With Path of Exile 2 being in early access beta instead of launched, I was unsure whether Grinding Gear Games would be keeping to the three-month cadence for big updates that POE1 is known for. It turns out it’s pretty close: Dawn of the Hunt, the first big content release for POE 2, will launch just shy of the four-month mark on April 4th. But we already knew that. What we didn’t know yet were the specifics. After a special preview of the reveal and Q&A with GGG’s Jonathan Rogers this week, we’ve now got details.
As expected for a game in development, Dawn of the Hunt introduces many more new things, from maps to ascension classes to endgame mechanics. What is unexpected is the volume of some additions: At over 100 for each, there are more support gems and uniques than the Huntress can shake her spear at! That brings us to the star of the update, the Huntress class, along with the new weapon, the spear. Even more intriguing is the new mount and PvP-esque rogue exiles mechanics. And unlike in the usual scenario, all of the Dawn of the Hunt updates are available for existing early access characters to play! That means if you haven’t finished the story yet, you can just keep going. Players need to start fresh only if they want to experience the balance changes from the start.
Enter the Huntress
In a move I never saw coming, I think GGG finally found a way to get me to melee! With her spear, the Huntress is a hybrid of ranged and melee attacks. An Azmeri warrior banished from her village after using forbidden magics (a skill gem) to defend her people, the Huntress wants to redeem herself through her actions. “The Huntress has the deepest combo chains of any class we’ve done yet,” Rogers told me. Her arsenal focuses on a spear and a buckler to dash in and out of battle; she throws her spear both at the enemy and the ground for various attacks, then uses the buckler to parry and stun monsters and sweep and stab with her spear when in close range. (Note: Rogers also said there are plans to rework Warrior shield block!) Oh, and she uses the elements, including whirlwinds, twisters, lighting, fire… right up my alley, right?
This dynamic – and elemental – combat style already had me excited to break out of my Witch/Sorceress/Ranger rut, but then the Huntress’ two abilities really clinched it. First is the ability to tame a beast to make it a combat companion. The Huntress can have only one companion at a time and must release one to tame another, but how could I pass up having a powerful pet at my side? (And rare mobs give rare mods.) The second ability is Summon Rhoa Mount. Yup, a mount! This allows the Huntress to call a Rhoa to either fight alongside her or to mount up and move at full speed while attacking. Of course, one must be wary of getting knocked off and then overwhelmed while vulnerable.
Regarding the mount, Rogers told me, “Basically any time that you’re doing ranged attacks that cause you to slow down, those are the attacks you can do from the bird.” He noted that the intention is for Huntress and Ranger to utilize it as it is a dex-based skill, but “obviously [the devs] like to make skills usable by as many classes as possible in general.” I have to admit that I’d love to fling fire from atop a Rhoa as a Sorceress, so maybe the ability will expand to others. I’d buy more dexterity just for that!
Ascend in new ways
As a new class, the Huntress obviously gets paths to ascension: the Ritualist or the Amazon. However, three other classes get new paths this time as well. The Witch gets to be a Lich, the Warrior can flex his muscles as a Smith of Kitava, and the Mercenary can become a Tactician.
For the Huntress, the Ritualist is all about flesh and blood sacrifice (an animal’s or her own) and the plague. Exploding bloody boils upon your foes? Check. Absorb the life force of dead rare monsters to gain one of their modifiers for a short time? Check. She can even equip a third ring — worn by a severed finger around her neck! The Amazon, on the other hand, focuses on being an elite warrior in a traditional sense, focusing on precision and elemental fury. The Amazon can find weaknesses and exploit them to cause more damage.
The Witch gets to join with her minions as an undead, becoming a Lich. Who needs a soul, right? Using her own life to enhance her energy, she masters chaos and curses to decimate her foes.
The Smiths of Kitava allow the Warrior to forge his own weapons and armor. He can imbue his weapon with fire or even call forth a living replica to fight alongside him. By taking the Smith’s Masterwork point, the Warrior can’t wear body armor with mods, but he can buy the specific mods he wants from the Ascendancy nodes.
As a Tactician, the Mercenary gets suppressing fire to pin enemies down and can call forth a volley of arrows from off-screen archers to lay waste to the enemies around him (aptly named Unleash Hell!). The Tactician also has abilities to work well with other classes, giving support to them.
So many support gems, skills, and uniques
One of the highlighted new skills is Raise Spectre. Located in the occult panel, this skill allows players to trap the soul of any monster in the game to be summoned from the skill panel. These spectres cost spirit (which is based on the power of the monster) but will automatically revive when they die. Will players choose to call forth an army of weaker spectres or a smaller group of more powerful ones? And obviously, which monster will you choose to raise?
Rogers told me that GGG felt that a lot of builds have insufficient options, and to alleviate that the team added in over 100 new support gems. From bleeds to caltrops to retaliation, there’s a true smörgåsbord of options for players to select from — far too many for Rogers to list. Watch for the patch notes to get more details.
Of course, it just isn’t Path of Exile — 1 or 2 — without a bunch of unique items. And there are over 100 joining the lineup in POE2. Everyone is going to have favorites to try for, but I was pretty intrigued by The Coming Calamity Heroic Armour that grants players all three elemental herald skills without costing any spirit.
New prey: Rogue Exiles
From the name alone, Rogue Exiles didn’t seem too astonishing, but once Roberts started describing them, he had my attention. As unique encounters in endgame maps, these 12 different Rogue Exiles use the exact same skills and gear that players do. And when they are defeated, they leave this gear behind! Roberts called it a PvP-like experience, saying “It’s going to feel like a true player-vs.-player situation.” He added that these exiles are much smarter than the regular monsters (they, too, can utilize dodge roll, pathfinding to avoid your hits, and smart targeting) and that “every fight will feel completely different depending on the items they come equipped with.” Now there is an experience I was truly not expecting! Luckily, Rogers said they are not as tough as players… unless they are wearing uniques, of course!
Still more: Azmerian Wisps and endgame
Even if that sounds like a lot in the update, there is even more. “Our plan is to significantly expand the number of more specialized mods for crafting using socketables as we add new content over time,” Rogers explained. The new Azmerian Wisps are a part of that. In both the campaign and endgame, these wisps are manifestations of the Azmerian spirits, each associated with revered animals like a bear, wild cat, or winter owl. Players chase the wisp, battling the monsters that are infused with the wisps powers as it meanders by until facing a big unique foe created by the wisps infusion. Defeating these foes grants the new talismans to socket into gear.
While these wisps can be encountered throughout the game, there is an endgame map dedicated to them called the Azmeri Ranges. This map will always have multiple wisps in it and can be altered by the map-changing items.
Speaking of endgame, it wouldn’t be POE if there weren’t endgame additions. GGG’s Mark Roberts described the changes during our preview, noting that these changes were spurred by player feedback. To start, there’s more content. “In Dawn of the Hunt we have made sure to focus on increasing the sheer number of interesting and different encounters that you will randomly stumble into as you explore the endgame,” he explained. The second focus was to smooth the progression through maps and “reduce the amount of annoying busywork.” In a nutshell, there are seven new maps (each with custom encounters), 10 extra atlas passives to earn by completing five unique maps, four new unique strongboxes, and corrupted maps that need to be cleansed. And the next unique encounter? Rogue exiles.
What if your world changed every three months? What would you do differently? Path of Exile does, and MOP’s MJ Guthrie explores and experiences each new incarnation in Wandering Wraeclast. Join us biweekly for a look into each new challenge league and world expansion — and see whether MJ can finally reach the end of one world before it ends!
