Path of Exile News

To celebrate the launch of Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas, we'll be running two weeks of Twitch Drops starting from June 13th PDT!

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[h3]Week 1 Twitch Drops - Syndicate's Demise Unique Finisher Effect[/h3]
Start Time: June 13th 1:00 PM PDT

End Time: June 21th 4:59 AM PDT

You will get the Syndicate's Demise Unique Finisher Effect after 3 hours of accumulated watch time on any channel streaming Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas during the first week of launch.

[h3]Week 2 Twitch Drops - Rose Charge Effect[/h3]
Start Time: June 21st 5:00 AM PDT

End Time: June 29th 4:59 AM PDT

You will get the Rose Charge Effect after 3 hours of accumulated watch time on any channel streaming Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas during the second week of launch.
The drops are guaranteed for everyone who has watched any Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas stream for the amount of time specified above. This promotion is available for all accounts.

[h3]Support a Streamer[/h3]

To support our community streamers, we'll also be offering the Originator's Portal for purchasing or gifting 2 Twitch subscriptions of any tier from June 13th 1:00 PM to June 29th 4:59 AM PDT.

To participate:

• Log in to your Twitch account.
  
• Visit any Twitch channel streaming Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas.
  
• While the channel is live streaming Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas, purchase a cumulative of two subscriptions of any tier to earn the Originator's Portal (Prime Subs are excluded).
  

Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas introduces several new Trarthan Gems available as a reward for a victorious duel with Mercenaries. In this expansion we’ve also made some changes to existing Skill and Support Gems. Today we’ve prepared the gem data at level 20 with 20% quality for all new and changed gems to help you theorycraft your builds for the upcoming launch. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!


[h3]Click here to check out new and changed gems! [/h3]

With Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas launching soon, there will be a multitude of new Trarthan Skills and Infamous item modifiers to customise your characters with. Check out some examples of the new things you can find below!

We highlighted Siege Ballista of Trarthus during the Secrets of the Atlas Content Reveal and two more Trarthan gems can be found on the Secrets of the Atlas Announcement Page, but we know that those of you wanting to try out new skills will be keen to see some more!

Wave of Conviction of Trarthus
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Heavy Strike of Trarthus

New skills aren't the only thing you'll be able to get from the new Trarthan arrivals. Here are some more items with Infamous modifiers that you can obtain by defeating Mercenaries.

Infamous Modifiers

There's a whole lot more secrets to uncover yet! We look forward to them being found when Secrets of the Atlas launches at 1pm on June 13th (PDT). See you there!

In our recent GGG Live stream, Mark and Jonathan sat down for a Q&A with ZiggyD. In today's news post, we've provided answers to some of the most frequently asked questions that didn't make it into the livestream. Check them out!

[h3]How does equipping Mercenaries with items work? Can any Mercenary be equipped with any item?[/h3]
Each Mercenary is associated with Attributes.
Mercenaries will generate with gear that matches the Attributes they are associated with, and will only be able to be equipped with new Armour gear that matches their Attributes in the following way:

For Mercenaries with a single Attribute, any Armour gear that requires that Attribute is valid.
For Mercenaries with multiple Attributes, any Armour gear that requires an Attribute not associated with that Mercenary is invalid.

As an example:
A Strength Mercenary will be equippable with gear requiring just Strength, Strength + Dexterity or Strength + Intelligence.
A Dexterity/Intelligence Mercenary will be equippable with gear requiring just Dexterity, just Intelligence or Dexterity + Intelligence.

Mercenaries do not need to meet attribute requirements outside of the above rule. Mercenaries need to be within 70% of level requirements of an item to equip it.

Mercenaries also have preferred weapon types, and will not equip weapons that do not match their preferred types. Generally, they are going to prefer weapons that they can actually use their skills with.

[h3]Will Map modifiers affect rewards from Mercenaries?[/h3]
Increased Quantity on a Map Area from Map Modifiers will increase the chances that you find an Infamous Mercenary in that area.

[h3]Are Link skills able to target allied Mercenaries?[/h3]
Yes, you can link to an allied Mercenary. Just make sure they don’t die on you.

[h3]Can Gold appear as a reward in a Mercenary's pouch?[/h3]
No.

[h3]Can Mercenaries be renamed?[/h3]
No.

[h3]Can Mercenaries use items with influenced trigger skills (like Shaper weapons with Cast on Crit)?[/h3]
Short answer - No.

Longer answer - Mercenary Skills are not socketed into gear in the way that player skills are. They are inherent to the Mercenary rather than being the result of a socketed gem, so in the case of something like a Cast on Crit weapon, it would be hard to determine what skill should even be triggered - or indeed, do the triggering.

[h3]Will Mercenaries be tradable with other players?[/h3]
Mercenaries are not tradeable.

[h3]Are Mercenaries account bound or character bound?[/h3]
Account bound.

[h3]Do Mercenaries get passive skills from gear, such as the anointed notables on amulets or keystones from Uniques?[/h3]
Anointed passive skills will work. Keystones from Uniques also will work.

[h3]Will the Trarthan gems also appear in the Divine Font at the end of the Labyrinth, or are they only available from Mercenaries?[/h3]
Trarthan Gems are only available from Mercenaries (starting in level 68+ areas), and each individual Gem is only available from a specific variety of Mercenary.

[h3]Will Animate Guardian get an equipment interface similar to Mercenaries? How will that work?[/h3]
No. However, it's worth mentioning that Animate Guardian has been changed in the following way:

• Animated Guardians now retain their items when they die. However, if your Animated Guardian dies you cannot summon an Animated Guardian again in that area (unless that area is a hideout).
  

[h3]Are the new Pinnacle bosses able to be witnessed by the Maven?[/h3]
No (maybe in the future though).

[h3]Are there Uber versions of the new Pinnacle Bosses?[/h3]
No (maybe in the future though). Although note the quest version of the boss is easier than the repeatable endgame version.

[h3]Are there going to be the "tier 4" Syndicate leader rewards after killing Catarina? The treasure room after the Catarina fight, is that still there or is it randomized/gone?[/h3]
They're gone.

[h3]Does interacting with Syndicate members pause the game too?[/h3]
Yes.

[h3]Are we still going to have to hire workers in Kingsmarch?[/h3]
Yes, the town is pre-built and completed but workers will still need to be hired and paid for.

[h3]Does a Runebind count as a "different" mastery for the purpose of skills like Trickster's Polymath, or do they count as the same mastery, for the purpose of things like the life mastery that grants 10% more life if you have 6 life masteries?[/h3]
Yes, although all Runegrafts count as the same type of Mastery. They do not count as Life masteries.