Path Of Exile 3.25: New League Brings Many Changes - Boost To Pickup Range And More

As Path of Exile 3.26 Secrets of the Atlas’s release date draws closer, players are increasingly looking forward to some new content that this new league will bring to the game, such as new items and mechanisms. Among them, Mercenaries of Trarthus League Mechanic is the one that players pay the most attention to. In this league mechanism, you will be able to challenge, recruit and create mercenaries who can help you kill enemies and provide additional loot with new exclusive enhancement affixes during the exploration process. If you effectively match it with your skill gems or passive skills, you will have a super high advantage in the campaign in POE 3.26. However, it is worth noting that since this mercenary mechanism has not yet been officially launched, this guide will give you an introduction to the operation of Mercenaries of Trarthus League Mechanic and what new game experience it may bring to you based on some information currently released by the developer and player comments. Who Are Mercenaries? According to the developer, each area you explore will have a Trarthan Mercenary NPC, who will show you everything in his backpack after interacting with you, such as the items equipped, skill gems, and the contents of his pockets. Not only that, it will also provide you with a window with three options: Hire, Take Item, or Exile. No matter which one you choose, you need to fight this mercenary first, because only if you win can you gain the right to dominate it. If you are unfortunately defeated by it, the mercenary will be teleported away, and you will not encounter this mercenary with the same gear and skill gems again in this league. So it is highly recommended that you consider your exploration needs while also considering whether your build has the ability to complete this battle. For example, when you find that its skills are mainly based on fire elemental damage, you need to buy POE Divine Orbs to make your build’s fire resistance affix better, thereby improving your survivability in this battle and keeping the power of choice firmly in your hands. After that, you can choose from the following options. Hire First of all, you hiring this mercenary as a permanent combat assistant need to spend some Gold, which is one of the most important currencies for settlers in Settlers of Kalguur League. You will encounter a variety of mercenaries while exploring POE 3.26, and once you find one with stronger combat abilities or one with skills and equipment that suit your build, you can discard the previous one and hire the next one. This way, the mercenary will be counted as half a player, so you have a team of 1.5 players, which will make your subsequent battles more difficult, but also provide you with more loot. If you find a way to make their abilities and difficulties offset each other, you will have a helper who can help you get extra loot! By the way, you can only hire up to three mercenaries, but you can only choose one to fight by your side, which means that you need to choose a more suitable mercenary as your most capable assistant according to different combat needs or exploration needs. Take Item If you find a more effective item among the items shown to you by this mercenary, then you can choose this option. After the battle, you can choose an item from its equipment, a Trarthan Gem, which is new variants of existing skills, similar to Transfigured gems, or all the items in its pockets. On top of that, if you encounter Infamous Mercenaries, they can even provide you with rare items with exclusive attributes, which are very difficult to farm in the early stages of your POE 3.26 exploration. Exile Of course, not all mercenaries are worth using, so you can choose to exile them and prevent any mercenaries with the two attribute types you choose from appearing in the next 10 areas. Although the current developers have always praised players for getting more high-quality loot from this mechanism, the appearance of this option always makes people feel very strange, and it always indicates that players are likely to encounter enemies like Rogue Exiles in POE 2. Please note that the mercenaries you defeated but did not hire or exile will not disappear permanently, they will return to your town and be ready to challenge you again. However, if you want to fight the same mercenary again, you will need to resurrect him by paying a certain amount of gold. About Mercenary More As I just said, the specific information of each Mercenary will be displayed in the interface that appears when you interact with it, which may include level, attributes, all items carried, and skills, etc. You can use this to determine whether it can be used by you. Level & Attributes What needs to be paid attention to here is that the level of the mercenary will not change, and it will always be fixed at the level you have when you hire them. So when recruiting, try to choose stronger mercenaries instead of higher-level mercenaries. As for attributes, since the developer has too little description of them, but based on Rogue Exiles with similar mechanisms in POE 2 and the previous league mechanism, it can be inferred that they are likely to affect its combat capabilities and the gear and gems you have captured in it. Items After you hire a mercenary, you can give it the gear you have invested a lot of POE currency to upgrade it to replace its original weak gear, just like you equip another self. However, once you discard or replace a mercenary’s original gear, it will no longer be usable by this mercenary or other mercenaries, so please think carefully before making these operations. Skill Gems Like your character, a mercenary can have up to 6 skill gems that can be linked to support gems, and they cannot be changed after you hire them. You can only obtain more effective skill gems by recruiting stronger mercenaries. It is worth mentioning here that a small number of mercenaries will have Gilded Supports, which is one of the most powerful support gems in the current Path of Exile 3.26 league, which can bring extremely high bonuses for you and the mercenary. The above is a part of the specific operation method and contents of Mercenaries of Trarthus League Mechanic that appeared in the new league of POE 3.26 Secrets of the Atlas. Although this is not the first time that the developer has introduced a mercenary mechanism in the game, its addition may allow players to have a better gaming experience and create more builds possibilities. I wish you a happy game!

If you’re a fan of both games in Path of Exile series, you’ve been busy lately! You were originally only focused on POE 2 Dawn of the Hunt league, but the first game’s 3.26 new league was recently announced to be launched soon. The league is named Secrets of the Atlas and is expected to be launched on June 13. Although more information will be announced at the press conference on June 5, some news about 3.26’s new features and mechanics have been leaked, and the most popular one is undoubtedly the addition of the pause function. Based on this, we will introduce you to the information related to this feature and speculate on how it may affect the entire game after the launch of POE 3.26. How Will The Pause Function Work? Unlike the combat elements in casual games, in ARPGs like Path of Exile series, combat is the main source of your character’s survival and the core gameplay of the game. Therefore, it is normal for a virtual battle to take more than ten minutes. The higher the difficulty of the battle, the longer it takes. But this is likely to cause real-life problems, such as when someone knocks on the door while you are fighting, or you receive an important call that you have to answer. If you ignore it and focus on the game, you may miss the instant message, but if you leave the battle, your character will be killed and you will lose XP and POE currency you have earned. Obviously, the new pause function was born to solve this problem. To be honest, there is nothing to explain in terms of mechanism. It just allows you to pause the game in battle to solve real-life problems. Or you can also utilize this function to unlock more skill points for “temporary” upgrades during the battle to win more safely. This Function Is Not Original Considering the characteristics of ARPG, there should be other games on the market that have added similar pause functions, including even Path of Exile’s own sequel. The pause function was added to the game when POE 2 was first released in December last year. Perhaps because it was well received by players, the development team decided to add it to 3.26 league after half a year. But if you have played POE 1 before, you should have found that it also had an automatic pause function. When you open any full-screen menu in the game, or when there is an uncontrollable accident such as network delay, the battle will automatically pause to prevent you from suffering losses. However, in order to prevent players from exploiting this loophole, such as trying to find more safe areas in the battle by repeatedly pausing so that the challenge of the battle is weakened, the game will not automatically pause when you fight a pinnacle boss or other difficult battles in Path of Exile. Impact On Gameplay Whether it is automatic pause or passive pause caused by your operation, the key issue is still “randomness”. It is not ruled out that you will encounter situations where you have to pause the battle due to accidents, but if you abuse the pause, it will undoubtedly destroy the balance and playability of the game. Since 3.26 has not yet been launched, more details about the pause function may have to wait until the press conference to know. But in fact, according to the setting of automatic pause, it can be inferred that the development team will probably consider the problems you can think of. The problem of possible abuse of the pause function should be solved by adding no-pause zones like automatic pause, or setting a maximum number of pauses for simple battles. After all, in general, the pause function is still necessary. To be honest, as an ARPG player, you should also understand the feature of long game battles, so it is best to arrange your game time reasonably based on the pause function to ensure that you will not be disturbed by the outside world when entering the battle, especially the difficult boss battle. Read More: What Exactly Does Path Of Exile Have In Content For The 3.26 Expansion: Secrets Of The Atlas? Noteworthy 3.26 Endgame Changes Based on the trailers that have been released and the names of the new leagues, it can be inferred that the endgame changes of 3.26 will focus on Atlas and the map device. For example, you can reroll elder and conqueror guardian maps through Orbs of Horizon, or change the guardians on the area and map device. In addition, a new inventory grid will be added to the map device to facilitate the placement of areas you want to explore in order. The Connection Between POE 1/2 As games belonging to the same series, the continuity of the main story of Path of Exile is not very strong, so the connection between the two games is not close from the perspective of the plot. But there are many connections between other elements. Whether it is the setting and selection of classes, the way of fighting, or the currency and trading system, there are many similarities between Path of Exile 1 and 2. Of course, in order to ensure their respective playability, they also have some exclusive gameplay. However, from a practical point of view, without affecting the independence of the game, the two games can completely introduce the basic functions that each other has, just like POE 2 pause function introduced by 3.26 this time. As for POE 2, which is being improved, the first game has more places to learn from after more than ten years of development. If POE 2 wants to launch the official version as soon as possible, learning from 1 is an indispensable learning process. In any case, from 3.26 League and the upcoming release of POE 2 patch 0.2.1, it can be seen that the entire Path of Exile series is moving forward steadily and is bound to occupy a more important position in ARPG market in the future.

There is no doubt that the most eye-catching ARPG in recent times is Path of Exile 2, which was launched at the end of 2024. Although it is still in the early access stage and has not yet shown its full version charm to you, POE 2 is better than the recent performance of another strong competitor Diablo 4 - after all, the latter’s Season 7 has not yet arrived. But perhaps you have a question, since Path of Exile 2 is in full swing, is it still necessary to experience the first game in the same series in the new 2025? Based on this, we will make a comprehensive comparison of the recent performance of POE 1, POE 2 and Diablo 4 to provide you with some reference. Path Of Exile 1 Performance Review In the past year, from 3.24 Necropolis to 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur, even though it has been more than ten years since its official release, POE 1 has always been committed to maintaining its freshness by constantly updating the league, which is one of the main reasons for its enduring popularity. POE 3.24 The league was officially launched on March 29, 2024, and added a lot of new content based on the past leagues, such as the league mechanism that allows you to configure the difficulty of monsters and POE Currency rewards, and Embers of the Allflame items that allow you to encounter abnormal monsters with special rewards. POE 3.25 As the most recent Path of Exile 1 league released to you, POE 3.25 can be said to have made many special updates to the game. In terms of combat, version 3.25 has completely changed your melee mode and introduced Warden class to replace Raider. But besides these, the most eye-catching is the challenge league mechanism that allows you to build and manage your own town. It is worth noting that it is this league mechanism that allows you to experience a new and more complete trade system in POE 1, allowing you to obtain more necessary materials by hiring workers and port trade besides obtaining POE Divine Orbs through battle. Compared To Path Of Exile 2 As a sequel, POE 2 must innovate in many aspects to ensure that it will not be overshadowed by the brilliance of the previous work, and based on the current performance, it has completely done this. First of all, it is worth mentioning that it responds to the response and expectations of fans in the past, and launched the couch co-op that POE 1 did not have, as well as cross-platform games and cross-platform progress. In view of the continuous evolution of current game devices, it is imperative for a large-scale ARPG to keep you and provide you with more convenience in playing. In the specific game content, POE 2 allows you to provide more unique mechanisms for game characters through support gems based on skill and class differences. This undoubtedly gives you more control and customization, giving you more personality than Path of Exile 1 for any class and weapon you want to experience. If you like the boss battles of POE series, then POE 2 will never let you down. It brings more than 100 unique bosses to fight. Besides the improved boss battles in the endgame content, you also have the opportunity to get a brand new combat experience through dedicated maps for each boss. And the bosses in POE 2 are more challenging, requiring you to use critical thinking to deploy strategies and make the battles more interesting. Based on the above changes, there is no doubt that Path of Exile 2 is better than the first game in these aspects, especially the narrative method of the second part is also better. In addition, all the playing threshold of the first and second parts are actually not low. So if you are an old player of the series, you can experience an upgraded version of Path of Exile through POE 2 in the new year. But if you haven’t come into contact with POE yet, then I think you can also consider playing POE 1. Because compared to the second part, it still has some unique mechanisms, such as the fun league and trade system in 3.25. And the first game has been running for ten years, so it may be more stable. And if you plan to play POE 1 in the near future, you still can solve the possible POE Currency shortage through the giveaway information and activities in iGMeet Discord, avoiding worries. Compared To Diablo 4 In the past year, Diablo 4 has always been popular and discussed, especially after October, with the launch of DLC Vessel of Hatred and Season 6, it quickly attracted a group of new players. Although Diablo 4 was launched in 2023, the development history of the entire Diablo series is much longer than Path of Exile. So although POE 1 also has its own characteristics, Diablo 4 is better than Path of Exile 1 in terms of the smoothness of the game and the exquisiteness of the picture, and the experience will be better. Although in the face of 2025, except for Season 7 which will be launched soon, Diablo 4 has not yet revealed whether it will launch new DLC or other major activities, but there is no doubt that Diablo 4 is the current core of Diablo series, so any updates will basically be launched in Diablo 4, and the development focus of POE series in 2025 is undoubtedly the second part. So from this perspective, in 2025, Diablo 4 may bring you more surprises than POE 1. Based on the above review and comparison, if you are only interested in POE series, then in the next year you can choose to play the first or second part according to your own preferences; but if you have to choose between Diablo 4 and POE 1, the former will be better. I hope you can continue to enjoy the fun of ARPG in the new year! Thank you for reading!

Path of Exile is a highly popular action role-playing game that has been around for quite some time. For those who enjoy playing an Elementalist, there is a build that is worth considering. The Explosive Arrow Ballista Elementalist is a powerful build that can deal massive damage to enemies. This article post will discuss this build in detail. 1. Overview:   - The Lightning Strike Champion is a melee build that focuses on dealing lightning damage with the Lightning Strike skill.   - Lightning Strike is a projectile skill that converts part of your physical damage to lightning damage and releases projectiles that strike enemies.   - The Champion ascendancy class provides powerful offensive and defensive capabilities, making it an ideal choice for this build. 2. Skill Gems:   - Lightning Strike: This is your primary skill. It converts part of your physical damage to lightning damage and releases projectiles that deal area damage upon striking enemies. Link it with support gems like Ancestral Call, Elemental Damage with Attacks, Multistrike, and Added Lightning Damage for increased damage and clear speed.   - Herald of Thunder: Activate this aura skill to add flat lightning damage to your attacks and create lightning chains that damage nearby enemies.   - Vaal Ancestral Warchief: Summon the Vaal Ancestral Warchief totem to provide a powerful damage boost during tough encounters. Link it with support gems like Brutality, Melee Physical Damage, and Concentrated Effect.   - Ancestral Protector: Summon the Ancestral Protector totem to enhance your attack speed and damage. It can be linked with support gems like Elemental Damage with Attacks and Faster Attacks.   - Movement skill: Use skills like Leap Slam or Whirling Blades linked with Faster Attacks and Fortify for mobility and defense. 3. Passive Skill Tree:   - Prioritize passive nodes that increase melee physical damage, attack speed, elemental damage, and projectile damage.   - Allocate life and armor/evasion nodes to enhance survivability.   - Focus on the Champion ascendancy class's notable passive skills, such as Inspirational, First to Strike, Last to Fall, Unstoppable Hero, and Fortitude, which provide increased damage, fortify effect, and defensive bonuses. 4. Gear:   - Weapon: Look for a high physical damage weapon, preferably one with increased attack speed and added lightning damage modifiers.   - Armor: Prioritize pieces with high life, resistances, and armor/evasion rating for survivability.   - Helmet: Consider a helmet with increased life, resistances, and potentially a nearby enemies take increased elemental damage enchantment.   - Gloves: Look for gloves with attack speed, life, and resistances. Consider getting ones with added lightning damage to attacks as well.   - Boots: Choose boots with movement speed, life, resistances, and potentially the "Cannot be slowed below base speed" modifier.   - Accessories: Focus on rings and amulets that provide increased physical damage, elemental damage, life, resistances, and critical strike chance/multiplier.   - Jewels: Use jewels with increased damage, life, attack speed, and resistances to further enhance your build. 5. Playstyle Tips:   - Engage enemies at melee range and unleash Lightning Strike to deal both melee and projectile damage.   - Use Ancestral Call support gem to hit multiple enemies at once, improving your clear speed.   - Maintain the Herald of Thunder aura to add extra lightning damage to your attacks and trigger lightning chains.   - Summon totems like Vaal Ancestral Warchief and Ancestral Protector for additional damage and support during boss fights.   - Keep an eye on your life pool and use skills like Enduring Cry to recover life and generate endurance charges for extra survivability.   - Utilize movement skills like Leap Slam or Whirling Blades to quickly navigate through maps and avoid dangerous situations.   - Make use of defensive flasks such as Granite Flasks, Basalt Flasks, and Stibnite Flasks to mitigate incoming damage. - Prioritize positioning and awareness to avoid enemy attacks while maximizing your damage output. You can customize the build according to your playstyle and available resources. Experiment with different gems, gear, and passive tree choices to optimize your Lightning Strike Champion in Path of Exile. Good luck and enjoy your adventures!