Path of Exile Harvest Guide: How To Run The Sacred Grove To Ensure Harvest?

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• Don't Waste PoE 3.29 Voyage: Correct Chart Placement Strategy Can Max Your Rewards

  Path of Exile 3.29 Curse of the Allflame will launch at 1 PM PDT on July 24th. This patch introduces a brand new gameplay mode - Voyage. Players can meticulously plan and execute underwater expeditions to retrieve lost treasure and bring back a wealth of loot.

  Proper voyage planning is key to reaping rich rewards from underwater expeditions and is the dividing line between mediocre loot and substantial rewards. This guide will walk you through the complete voyage setup process step-by-step, helping you make smarter decisions.

  Understanding Curse of the Allflame League and Voyage System

  

  Curse of the Allflame is a challenge league introduced in PoE 3.29. In this league, you will meet a dangerous pirate captain - Valerie - who needs your help to retrieve forgotten treasure from the depths of the frozen Wraeclast Sea.

  The core logic of the sailing system is to defeat monsters and unlock Cursed Treasures on maps throughout Wraeclast to obtain Charts. Once you've collected enough Charts, board Valerie's ship - Sovereign - and combine multiple Charts into a single voyage to embark on a large-scale exploration of the ocean depths.

  Each region in PoE 3.29 contains at least one Chart, and some regions even have two, so you can start collecting them from Act 1. The earlier you start accumulating Charts, the sooner you can plan high-yield voyages.

  Unlocking Voyages: Collect Nine Charts First

  Before starting your first voyage, you must first scout at least nine different charts from Valerie.

  Therefore, to begin your adventure as soon as possible, it's best to actively seek out Cursed Treasures in each region as you progress through the story. Note that each time you scout a chart underwater, it consumes a certain number of Allflame Lanterns. Lanterns create a circular safe zone on the seabed, removing the Drowning debuff - leaving the safe zone for more than 5 seconds will result in instant death. After a scout is completed, the chart is recorded and becomes usable for navigation.

  

  Understanding Chart Implicit Modifiers

  Each chart, after being scouted, reveals an Implicit Modifier. These modifiers can affect adjacent charts or the entire voyage.

  Therefore, before placing any chart, you must carefully examine its Implicit Modifier. Some modifiers can be several times more valuable in specific locations than random placement.

  For example, a chart's modifier might generate 3 Diviner's Strongboxes in each adjacent area. If this chart is placed in the center of Voyage Board, it will affect the four adjacent areas (top, bottom, left, and right), generating a total of 12 Diviner's Strongboxes.

  However, if it's placed on the edge, it will only affect 2-3 adjacent areas; if placed in a corner, it will only affect 2 areas. The difference in benefit between centering and corner placement for the same chart is as high as 6 times.

  Check Border Modifiers

  Many players might habitually fill their Voyage Board immediately after receiving a map, which is one of the biggest misconceptions. Voyage Board's borders have randomly generated Border Modifiers, and these modifiers' effects also apply to adjacent map areas.

  Border Modifiers for each voyage are randomly generated, meaning your optimal layout strategy may be completely different every round.

  Therefore, before placing any map, you need to consider not only its own effect but also Border Modifiers surrounding the Voyage Board. Find the strongest Border Modifier for this voyage and then plan the placement of all maps around it.

  Optimizing Voyage layout is only one part of increasing rewards. Your character's damage output, survivability, and gear quality also determine how deep you can explore and how much reward you can ultimately bring back. You can buy PoE currency from IGGM.com to quickly upgrade your gear quality and maximize your rewards from each voyage.

  Voyage Board Layout Steps

  Based on the above principles, a complete voyage plan should follow these steps:

  Step 1: Collection and Scout

  While progressing through Path of Exile map, continuously collect nautical charts, then survey each chart on Sovereign.

  Step 2: Check Border Modifiers

  Open Voyage Board and observe the modifiers on the surrounding boundaries. Mark the 1-2 strongest boundary bonuses for this round.

  Step 3: Filter Charts

  View Implicit Modifiers of all surveyed charts and find the chart that best matches the strongest Border Modifier for this round of voyage (e.g., if Border modifier is Exalted Orb, look for the chart that increases the number of rare monsters).

  Step 4: Place in Designated Locations

  Prioritize placing the core chart (with adjacent bonuses) in the center, then place charts that synergize with boundary bonuses next to their corresponding boundaries. Fill the remaining spaces with the remaining charts.

  Step 5: Execute Voyage

  After confirming that all 9 charts are in place, begin the voyage. Venture deep into the ocean aboard the Bathysphere, place lanterns underwater for safety, explore areas, defeat monsters, and collect loot. Finally, use Allflame Capsule to return the loot to the surface ahead of time.

  Furthermore, for more rewards, follow IGGM POE Facebook group; we will be hosting giveaway in the future. Following and participating could earn you rewards crucial for your league progression!

  Underwater Exploration Precautions

  During your voyage, the following two points directly affect how much loot you can take with you:

  1. Lantern Management: Each voyage provides a maximum of 7 Allflame Lanterns. The first lantern is automatically placed next to Bathysphere. You can choose to manually place it or enable automatic placement of the next lantern depending on the upcoming battle. However, be sure not to leave the lantern's illuminated area and avoid lingering in combat.
  2. Evacuation Timing: After you place the last lantern, all safe zones will shrink sequentially from the last lantern placed, and sea creatures will swarm towards you. You must quickly return to Bathysphere to evacuate, otherwise you will lose all unreturned items.

  In summary, the navigation system in Path of Exile 3.29 Curse of the Allflame is essentially a strategy planning game - your success depends not on luck, but on how you combine charts, how you utilize Border Modifiers, and how you maximize the value of each chart's affixes.

• Path of Exile 3.29 Curse of the Allflame Top 10 Farming Strategies | New Meta Farming Methods You Should Try

  As Mirage League comes to an end and is removed from the core content, PoE 3.29 farming strategies are once again being reshuffled. Many farming methods have been weakened, some have been heavily modified, and others have even been completely removed.

  Path of Exile Curse of the Allflame League is likely to be a relatively poor League. While the lower limit of each farming strategy should not be too low, the upper limit may also not be extremely high. Even so, no player can ignore the most efficient meta strategies with the highest possible output.

  

  The following farming strategies are listed in no particular order:

  1. Curse of the Allflame
  2. Abyss
  3. Eternal Conflict Legion
  4. Divination Card Farming
  5. Ethereal Allflame Scarab Farming
  6. Nightmare Boss Rushing
  7. Inscribed Ultimatum
  8. Corrupted Essences
  9. Harvest
  10. Gilded Allflame Rotas

  Curse of the Allflame

  Curse of the Allflame may become the most profitable mechanic in PoE 3.29. Besides its exclusive Allflame Embers and Ducats, it can also produce Scarabs and gold.

  Although its gameplay looks somewhat similar to PoE 2 Vaal Temple, the mechanic itself is not as complicated. Since you can collect multiple maps and combine them into one large map, allowing multiple modifiers to stack together, the rewards can become extremely powerful.

  In addition, it can also be used for crafting. The rare equipment and Unique items generated by Curse of the Allflame mechanic may provide strong value as well.

  Abyss

  Abyss may replace Breach this League and become one of the main ground loot farming strategies. Two Scarabs in particular are especially interesting:

  • Abyss Scarab of Crystals: Increases the number of monsters and Abyss Pits by 100% based on the number of souls fed.
  • Abyssal Scarab of the Consort: Abyss Pits will spawn an Abyssal Consort.

  With the nodes on Atlas passive tree, you can gain around 100% increased monster quantity and additional Abyss Pits before any map modifiers are applied. Combined with general juicing methods, Abyss will undoubtedly become one of the strongest output-focused strategies.

  

  Eternal Conflict Legion

  Eternal Conflict Legion is technically weaker because Mirage mechanic has been removed.

  However, Legion itself has received a reward rework, and its crafting potential for endgame BIS gear is higher than almost any other mechanic. Therefore, it will be extremely important this League, and both Eternal Conflict Legion and regular Legion should remain very strong.

  Even if the drop rate of splinters has been reduced across the board, Eternal Conflict Legion should still drop a large number of stacked decks and splinters. Meanwhile, regular Legion has always provided valuable ground loot and Scarabs, and in a League that may lean toward lower overall wealth generation, the value of these drops will become even higher.

  Divination Card Farming

  Quantity stacking and Divination Card farming have always been extremely important. In PoE 3.29, they have also received buffs, with scrying becoming easier to achieve and Atlas passive tree nodes providing a "12% more Divination Card drops" bonus.

  Therefore, Divination Card farming is one of the few mechanics that received direct improvements this League. As League progresses and players discover new high-value targets, farming priorities may change. You need to pay attention to market demand shifts and avoid farming cards that no longer have enough demand.

  Ethereal Allflame Scarab Farming

  This will likely become the strongest Scarab farming strategy this League, producing a large portion of the Scarabs available in the game. Running this strategy requires a large amount of currency because Allflame Ember of the Etherea itself is quite valuable.

  Demand for scarabs is extremely high early in the league; if you want to run this strategy early on, you can buy PoE currency from IGGM to invest Allflame Ember of the Ethereal.

  You need to prioritize and quickly defeat map bosses. This is because only after killing the boss can Eater of Worlds Altars have a higher chance of generating important reward modifiers, such as Scarab duplication. If your build cannot comfortably handle T16 or T17 map bosses, this strategy is not recommended.

  With this strategy, a single map can generate a massive amount of Scarabs. It usually takes at least 2-3 trips to collect all the loot, so make sure you reserve enough portals.

  Nightmare Boss Rushing

  Nightmare Boss Rushing has remained an S-tier strategy since its introduction. It is the only way to obtain Uber boss fragments and one of the few ways to acquire certain chase uniques, making it an S-tier strategy permanently.

  During Mirage League, it could generate more than 25 Divine Orbs per hour, with map costs around 25 Chaos Orbs and only two inexpensive Scarabs required. You need to select Atlas passives that increase map drops, boss rewards, and related bonuses.

  It should be noted that item quantity does affect Uber fragment drops. Around 233% map item quantity is required to reach the optimal result.

  Inscribed Ultimatum

  Inscribed Ultimatum has remained mostly unchanged. The goal of farming Inscribed Ultimatums is to obtain jackpot rewards, such as multiple Divine Orbs. If you persist long enough, you may even find an Inscribed Ultimatum that rewards a Mirror of Kalandra.

  Inscribed Ultimatums with poor rewards, such as low-value Unique items or unwanted Divination Cards, can be sold to NPCs in groups of five. The five items will be consumed, and the NPC will return one new Inscribed Ultimatum of the same Tier. All rewards and modifiers on the new item will be completely rerolled.

  You can identify whether it is the highest Tier by checking the "200% more monster life" modifier. If it displays 200%, it is the highest Tier.

  Corrupted Essences

  Corrupted Essences remain a strong farming choice throughout all stages of the League. They have been slightly weakened in PoE 3.29, but the impact is not significant.

  You need to find Essence monsters sealed inside purple crystals in T16 or higher-tier maps. Before releasing them, use a Remnant of Corruption to corrupt them.

  However, not every Essence is worth corrupting. The following four Essences have a chance to transform into extremely valuable T8 Corrupted Essences after corruption:

  • Essence of Envy
  • Essence of Dread
  • Essence of Scorn
  • Essence of Misery

  Harvest

  Harvest is one of the best farming strategies in PoE 3.29. It offers high efficiency, and with Fruiting Astrolabe, its potential can become extremely impressive.

  Fruiting Astrolabe is arguably one of the best Atlas devices in the game for increasing the value of its related mechanic. Therefore, you may not need to choose Synthesised Stability keystone and should instead carefully plan which modifier you want to select.

  Gilded Allflame Rotas

  Gilded Allflame Rotas are the best method for obtaining gold. This strategy uses Allflame Ember of the Gilded, which replaces certain monster packs in maps with Gilded undead enemies. These monsters convert all dropped items into gold.

  Since Allflame Ember of the Gilded can only enhance one map and is quite valuable, players usually maximize efficiency through rotations. Each player in the group takes turns using their own map, allowing everyone to benefit from multiple maps' rewards.

  The farming strategies mentioned above will undoubtedly provide excellent returns. They are all top-tier strategies, but they focus on different types of output, so it is currently impossible to determine their exact profit rankings.

• Path of Exile 3.29 Will Bring 5 Confirmed Massive QoL Upgrades Across Various Mechanics to Ensure the Best Experience!

  Although much of Path of Exile 3.29 content has already been showcased via livestreams and announcements, more new videos have since been released, teasing further changes arriving with the league.

  Beyond new unique items, Path of Exile 3.29 introduces a series of quality-of-life (QoL) improvements, most notably optimizations to Verisium mechanic, aimed at ensuring smoother combat flow while enriching gameplay content.

  Below, we detail these changes to help you prepare and quickly adapt to the new game environment once Curse of the Allflame begins.

  

  Verisium in PoE 1

  If you have also been playing Path of Exile 2 recently, you have likely encountered Verisium quite often. In PoE 2, Verisium is a special currency used at Verisium Anvil to add Runic Ward to your armor.

  However, a mechanic by the same name was actually introduced in PoE 1 back during 3.25 league. In Path of Exile 3.25, Verisium exists as an ore that workers can smelt into Verisium Bars; both the bars and the raw ore are then used to upgrade Kingsmarch infrastructure.

  To obtain Verisium ore, you must locate Verisium veins while exploring, then click and hold to channel energy into them.

  As you channel, Verisium vein's progress bar fills up. This not only increases the final yield of ore but also raises the difficulty of the monsters that spawn upon release.

  Once you release the button or the bar fills completely, powerful monsters spawn around the vein, and you must defeat them quickly. If you die or flee during the process, you lose the extra Verisium ore accumulated through channeling.

  3.29 Verisium mechanic optimizations

  Building on this gameplay, update 3.29 introduces a small but significant change: an added layer of protection while you interact with and channel on Verisium veins, preventing unexpected interruptions to the channeling action.

  Although this optimization is a bit late in coming, it is a welcome change, as it effectively boosts your success rate and final yield when farming Verisium ore.

  Even if you aren't currently engaging much with other Kingsmarch mechanics in Path of Exile, the ability to sell Verisium ore or bars for significant PoE currency income means these new changes shouldn't be overlooked.

  More workbenches added

  Workbenches, also known as crafting benches, allow you to add new modifiers to your gear by consuming a certain amount of currency.

  Previously, workbenches were typically found in your Hideout. While this was fine for dedicated crafting sessions, it became a hassle if you wanted to upgrade your gear on the fly while progressing through the campaign or mapping.

  To address this, Path of Exile 3.29 is adding workbenches to towns in Act 2 and all subsequent acts. Now, whenever you have the currency and want to upgrade your gear to tackle more dangerous content, you can do so immediately.

  

  Increased stack sizes for currency and fragments

  One of Path of Exile's defining features is its complex currency system. While collectively referred to as currency, the system comprises various orbs with distinct functions; some even have corresponding fragments that can be combined once you've collected enough.

  Consequently, a single play session can yield a wide variety of orbs and fragments, quickly filling up multiple inventory slots. After a major battle, you might find yourself unable to carry away all the loot.

  To solve this, Path of Exile has announced that, following the launch of Curse of the Allflame league, the maximum stack size per inventory slot for most currency items and fragments will be doubled. So, feel free to go out and gather as many orbs as you like!

  Additionally, 3.29 league kicks off in just about a day, and IGGM PoE Facebook Group will be hosting random giveaways irregularly. To ensure you don't miss out, join the group now and stay tuned for the prize draws!

  Optimized Ritual routes

  Ritual is a key endgame event in Path of Exile that requires you to defeat enemies spawned by activated altars. Since these altars appear randomly across the map, you might sometimes consume more time searching for them than actually completing the encounters.

  3.29 league introduces a special mechanic to address this: if you want to focus on Rituals while mapping, the system will release a swarm of insects after you complete a Ritual; these insects will guide you directly to the next nearby Ritual location.

  Animated Guardian improvements

  Animated Guardian is a unique spell that imbues a piece of equipped melee weaponry or armor with life, creating an invisible minion.

  Once summoned, the minion uses melee skills based on the gear items you provided to aid you in combat; it remains active until it dies or you un-equip Animated Guardian skill gem.

  Furthermore, a previously created guardian can be re-summoned directly without needing to consume the gear again.

  Note that even if you animate multiple items, their effects stack onto a single guardian, and unidentified items cannot be used for this mechanic. If the guardian dies, you cannot re-summon it within the same area.

  Path of Exile 3.29 introduces a QoL improvement for this spell, allowing you to view your guardian's currently equipped items at any time.

  While this isn't a direct power buff, it provides greater clarity regarding the spell's effects, enabling you to adjust your strategy based on the combat situation.

  These are just some of QoL improvements revealed for Path of Exile 3.29; more changes are expected upon the league's official launch, promising an enhanced experience across the board. All that's left for you to do now is prepare your league-start builds and get ready!

• The Best PoE 3.29 League Starter? Tips to Level Winter Orb Elementalist without Rolling Magma

  The Path of Exile 3.29 Curse of the Allflame will officially launch at 1 PM PDT on July 24th. Before that, we already know that Winter Orb has received significant buffs in 3.29, and more and more players are starting to focus on the skill's early game potential.

  However, a practical problem arises: the traditional Rolling Magma upgrade path has been nerfed, and Winter Orb itself doesn't unlock until level 28. So, how do we smoothly transition before obtaining the core skill? This article will provide you with a fast and smooth Winter Orb Elementalist upgrade path.

  Why Choose Winter Orb Elementalist?

  

  Winter Orb received several key buffs in 3.29: the number of projectiles increased from a fixed 1 to 2-3, the critical strike chance increased from 6% to 7.5%, and it has a 25% base freeze chance. These changes significantly improve Winter Orb's performance in the early and mid-game. The problem is that this skill isn't available until level 28, and Rolling Magma has been nerfed, meaning we need a reliable transition strategy.

  The core idea of ​​this build is to use Power Siphon staff attack skill for early leveling, then switch to Winter Orb around level 55 after completing the second Lord's Labyrinth. This timing isn't arbitrary; at this point, you'll gain the second Ascendancy node, Shaper of Storms, and your passive skills tree will be more complete, with critical strike chance and critical strike damage bonuses already established.

  Act 1: A Smooth Start from Zero

  After Defeating Hillock

  Every character in PoE 3.29 starts with Act 1. After defeating Hillock and entering town, the first thing to do is claim Kinetic Bolt and Prismatic Burst Support. Prismatic Burst Support causes your attacks to trigger a random elemental spell explosion upon hit, significantly improving mob clearing efficiency in the early game.

  Also, remember to check NPC shops for Iron Rings and shoes with movement speed affixes; these are crucial for early-game survival and map traversal efficiency.

  Quest Progression & Skill Acquisition

  After completing Breaking Some Eggs quest in Mud Flats, head to Submerged Passage. Teleport back to town to claim Frostblink and Flame Wall as quest rewards.

  Next, you'll need to unlock the following skills from NPCs:

  • Shield Charge - A movement skill that significantly increases map traversal speed.
  • Faster Attacks Support - Increases the attack speed of the supported skill.
  • Holy Flame Totem - Provides additional single-target damage and curse immunity.

  First Skill Adjustment

  After progressing to Lower Prison, use Waypoint to return to town and claim Added Lightning Damage Support and Added Cold Damage Support. You can now replace Prismatic Burst Support. After defeating Brutus, unlock Precision, an aura skill that provides a considerable critical strike chance bonus.

  Second Skill Adjustment

  Upon reaching Cavern of Wrath, use Waypoint to return to town and unlock Power Siphon and Flame Dash. At this point, replace Frostblink and Kinetic Bolt with Power Siphon. Power Siphon grants Power Charge upon defeating enemies, which, combined with Precision, significantly improves critical hit performance.

  With this, the upgrade system for Act 1 is complete, and you can smoothly progress through the remaining content.

  Act 2: Smooth Transition, Building Core System

  Key Missions & Skill Acquisition

  Upon entering Act 2, the primary objective is to reach Chamber of Sins and defeat the boss to obtain the quest item. After returning to town, choose Herald of Ice as the reward and acquire Herald of Thunder.

  The two Heralds greatly improve monster-clearing efficiency. Herald of Ice provides additional cold damage and creates an ice explosion after freezing enemies; Herald of Thunder provides additional lightning damage. Combined with Power Siphon's critical hit mechanism, they allow for extremely fast map clearing.

  4-Link & Support Gem Adjustments

  The next key location is Weaver's Chamber. Defeating Weaver there will unlock Sunder as a quest reward. Replace Added Cold Damage with Sunder. If you're lucky enough to obtain 4-Link gear, you can put Increased Critical Damage in the fourth slot.

  At this point, your skill set is basically set and won't change much: Power Siphon + Added Lightning Damage + Sunder + Increased Critical Damage. This should reliably support you until mid-Act 3.

  

  When to Switch to Winter Orb?

  Winter Orb is officially unlocked when you reach Act 3 and your character is level 28. At this point, you need to make a crucial decision: switch immediately or wait?

  Early Switch

  If you choose to switch early, you can equip Winter Orb after completing your first Labyrinth. You will then receive Golem bonus from the first Ascendancy node - Liege of Primordial and Golem Commander provide additional Golem count bonuses.

  Late Switch

  While feasible, switching directly to Winter Orb at level 28 doesn't perform ideally in practice. Even after acquiring Golems, the damage and feel remain somewhat clunky. Therefore, switching after completing the second Labyrinth at level 55 is a more mature approach.

  By this point, Shaper of Storms is unlocked, a core damage ascension node for Elementalists. Characters typically have better weapons and armor, a more complete passive tree, and Winter Orb damage increases with level.

  If you have sufficient PoE currency, you can further enhance your build's damage after level 55 by prioritizing cast speed attributes on gear - cast speed significantly impacts Winter Orb's final damage.

  Post-Switch Setup

  At level 55, your skill combos remain largely unchanged, with the main additions being Elemental Weakness (reduces enemy resistances) and four golem types: Ice Golem, Flame Golem, Lightning Golem, and Stone Golem. These provide critical strike chance, health regeneration, bonus damage, attack speed, and casting speed, all of which are very useful in both the early and late game.

  To further enhance your Winter Orb Elementalist build, join IGGM POE Facebook group now! They hold occasional giveaways where you might just win free orbs to upgrade your build with a simple tap.

  Summary

  The core advantage of this upgrade path is using the stable and powerful Power Siphon for a smooth early game transition, then switching to Elementalist build when Winter Orb is truly combat-ready. Whether you choose to switch early at level 28 or late at level 55, the most important thing is to have fun.

  Winter Orb Elementalist build in Path of Exile 3.29 is a highly promising League Starter build. Hopefully, this guide will help you get started smoothly and quickly enter Atlas.

• Path of Exile 3.29 New Unique Items Revealed | Subsume The Source and The Crustacean's Call Staff Could Change Builds

  The official team has once again showcased two strange yet interesting Unique items from Path of Exile 3.29 Curse of the Allflame League.

  One is a staff and the other is a helmet, but they are clearly not designed as a set. Instead, they appear to serve different builds and introduce new gameplay possibilities. Let's take a look at how they could reshape future build ideas.

  

  Subsume The Source

  Subsume The Source is a Unique helmet deeply tied to Abyssal Jewels.

  Unique Effect

  Its core mechanic is consuming Abyssal Jewels socketed inside it. Each inserted jewel will be destroyed, while one of its modifiers will be randomly retained. The retained modifier will then receive a massive Magnified effect.

  Subsume The Source helmet shown in the official showcase had the modifier "176% increased explicit modifier magnitudes." This value is an additional increase, meaning that together with the base 100%, the total effect reaches 276%.

  This means that if the helmet ultimately retains four modifiers, its total power would be roughly equivalent to the combined value of around eleven regular Abyssal Jewel modifiers.

  For example, if all four retained modifiers provide Life, with each one having a base value of 40 Life, the helmet would grant a total of 440 Life after the 276% increase, along with additional armour and energy shield.

  Drawback

  Such a powerful effect comes with a significant drawback. All Sockets on Subsume The Source will be removed. The final item will become a helmet with extremely powerful modifiers but permanently locked at zero sockets.

  Whether players can accept losing helmet sockets will depend entirely on how strong the final retained modifiers become.

  Potential

  The official showcase did not clarify whether the 176% value is fixed or has a possible roll range. If this value can vary, the potential strength of this helmet could be even higher.

  The impact of Vaal Orb also needs to be considered. Besides changing the modifier values through corruption, players may also wonder whether it can add an additional socket. A similar example is Hungry Loop ring, where Vaal Orb can increase the number of Support Gems it consumes from four to five.

  Players could create a Rare Abyssal Jewel with only one desired modifier. The process would involve using Orb of Alteration to roll a single target modifier, upgrading it to Rare with Orb of Regal, and then removing the newly added random modifier with Orb of Annulment.

  If Subsume The Source accepts these one-modifier Rare Abyssal Jewels, players could potentially create a top-tier helmet with several highly amplified premium modifiers.

  However, this method would require almost no investment in currency besides the Subsume The Source itself, so the official team may introduce some restrictions to prevent it from becoming too powerful.

  Subsume The Source isn't necessarily a core item for a build in PoE 3.29, but it can provide a significant boost to builds focused on single-attribute stacking. You can buy PoE currency on IGGM tocraft Abyssal Jewels, or directly trade finished Subsume The Source items.

  The Crustacean's Call

  The Crustacean's Call's unique feature is transforming player totems into crabs.

  Unique Effect

  This staff grants the socketed spell Crab Totem Support effect.

  This support effect allows summoned totems to move independently and increases their movement speed by 100%. These crab totems will crawl along the ground, following players or moving toward enemies.

  The Crustacean's Call Stats

  The Crustacean's Call provides 189% increased Spell Damage, 72% increased Totem Duration, and +2 to Maximum Summoned Totems. Combined with Hierophant Ascendancy, it has some interesting potential.

  However, as a two-handed weapon, it lacks key damage modifiers such as +1 to Skill Levels. Its damage ceiling is expected to be much lower than traditional Staff and Shield setups or dual-wield Staff combinations.

  The staff base modifier provides 25% chance to Block Spell Damage. Through Vaal Orb corruption, it may be possible to replace this with stronger modifiers, such as Skill Levels, Projectile bonuses, Elemental Penetration, or Critical Strike enhancements.

  

  How to Use The Crustacean's Call?

  The greatest value of The Crustacean's Call comes from providing an extremely smooth mapping experience. Moving totems remove the need to repeatedly cast them, allowing players to keep moving while dealing damage.

  However, for encounters such as Boss fights where high burst damage is required, players may need to prepare a stronger traditional Staff through Weapon Swap to handle high-health enemies.

  Because its damage appears relatively limited, combining it with mechanics such as Freeze and Freeze Proliferation could be a good option. Strong crowd control effects may help compensate for the lower damage and create a safer overall combat approach.

  The strength of The Crustacean's Call will depend entirely on the actual numbers of Crab Totem. If its damage multiplier is comparable to a level 20 Spell Totem Support, then its mobility, +2 maximum totems, and the ability to free up one Support Gem slot could make it a highly competitive choice. On the other hand, if its damage multiplier is too low, it may become more of a fun experimental item rather than a powerful option.

  Based only on the effects shown by the official team, Subsume The Source appears to have broader applications, while The Crustacean's Call may share some similarities with Arakaali's Fang. The strength of both items depends heavily on their summoned creatures. If the crabs can reach a power level close to the spiders from Arakaali's Fang, combining them with Hierophant Ascendancy could create a surprisingly strong build.

• Path of Exile 3.29 Winners and Losers | Life Stacking and Breach Nerfed, Abyss and Legion Rise

  The patch notes for Path of Exile 3.29 are as extensive as ever. This update not only introduces a fresh league mechanic but also makes deep adjustments to several core systems.

  The changes in Curse of the All Flame League will have a significant impact on both build viability and farming strategies. Let us examine the main winners and losers from PoE 3.29.

  

  Losers

  Life Stacking

  For a long time, life-stacking builds centred on Rathpith Globe have possessed formidable late-game power, serving as a major pathway for spell-based damage to push deep into endgame content.

  Over recent leagues, the addition of several key unique items has steadily elevated the strength of this archetype, even extending it into a wider variety of builds.

  Items such as The Apostate, The Grey Wind, and Foulborn Ghostwrithe all provide substantial damage or massive life pools within the life-stacking framework. In PoE 3.29, however, nearly all of these items have received nerfs:

  • Rathpith Globe: the increased spell damage and increased spell critical strike chance per 100 life have both been lowered from 5% to 3%.
  • The Grey Wind: the cap on maximum life converted to attack flat damage has been reduced from 12% to 10%.
  • Foulborn Ghostwrithe: the proportion of maximum energy shield equal to your maximum life, after being cut from 50% to 40% in Patch 3.28, has now been further reduced to 35% in the current league.

  Rathpith Globe builds can hardly obtain damage-increasing modifiers from other sources, so this change will directly result in a large loss of damage.

  Although some builds that only use Rathpith Globe are affected to a lesser extent, overall the life-stacking system has taken a heavy blow in this update.

  Breach

  In Mirage League, Breach became one of the most powerful endgame farming mechanics, thanks to its extremely high monster density and rewarding returns. When combined with Mirage mechanic, the profits from Breach were nothing short of insane.

  Curse of the All Flame League introduces multiple adjustments to Breach, with the core outcome being a marked reduction in monster density encountered within maps. The specific nerfs cover several aspects:

  • The average number of Breach monster packs will be reduced overall.
  • The small Atlas Tree nodes that granted 5% increased monster pack size for Breach have been changed to grant 5% increased rare monster quantity, thus losing their density bonus.
  • The tier rating of crafted modifiers on gear from Genesis Tree has been lowered, meaning high-tier affixes appear less frequently.
  • Equipment Genesis Tree Passive Points have been reduced by 4, shrinking the scope for customisation and leading to less desirable outcomes.
  • The probability of generating additional items has been decreased, reducing total output.
  • The notable passive that affected the chance of specific influence modifier types has been cut from 500% increased to 300% increased.

  In light of all these factors, Breach in version 3.29 will see a substantial decline in both combat experience and reward generation.

  Totems

  Certain spell totem builds may perform at a similar level to last league, since many spell skills themselves have received buffs in this version. Nevertheless, when comparing totems with other casting methods, totem archetypes have suffered from multiple direct nerfs in PoE 3.29:

  • Hierophant's Ritual of Awakening passive now provides 3% more damage per summoned totem, down from 5%.
  • Spell Totem Support at level 20 has its less damage penalty increased from 40% to 50%.
  • Ballista Totem Support at level 20 has its less damage penalty increased from 24% to 30%.
  • The totem passive mastery option on the passive tree has been reduced from 60% to 40%.
  • The critical strike scaling modifier on Shaman's Dominion notable passive has also been lowered.

  Among these changes, Hierophant suffers the most noticeable impact because that class offers substantial totem placement speed bonuses and had previously become almost mandatory for totem builds.

  Weakening Hierophant's dominant position is a reasonable balance direction in itself, yet the stacking of nerfs on the base totem support gems will inevitably reduce the overall strength of totem builds.

  However, these builds remain viable; you simply need to invest more currency. You can buy PoE currency at IGGM to acquire the gear, support gems, and jewels required for your totem build.

  Winners

  Legion

  Legion has received an unexpectedly powerful upgrade in this update. The changes focus mainly on the reward structure rather than the combat content.

  The biggest highlight is that Incubators have been entirely removed, which greatly simplifies the process. In their place, a new exclusive reward type has been introduced: Vestigial Uniques.

  Legion now adds a new currency item, Enshrouding Crystal, which allows you to enshroud a normal unique item. After that, you place the enshrouded item into Domain of Timeless Conflict and charge it by completing encounters there.

  Once fully charged, you shatter the crystal to obtain a remnant unique item of the same type, which inherits one of the exclusive modifiers from the original unique.

  This system carries a very high degree of randomness, and it might even produce unique items worth thousands of Divine Orbs, making Legion mechanic exceptionally attractive.

  Abyss

  Abyss has received a massive rework in PoE 3.29. The in-map Abyss mechanic will adopt a treatment similar to that of Path of Exile 2. Players no longer need to chase fissures across the entire map for meagre rewards.

  In the new version, you will kill monsters on an Abyssal Pit to open a descent into a pit containing lightless monsters, which include various new monster types with fresh skills and mechanics.

  On the reward side, most of the original content has been retained or improved. Not only are Abyss unique items still obtainable, but a new Abyss Pinnacle Boss has also been added, and it drops brand-new exclusive unique items.

  Abyss Scarabs and Atlas tree nodes have been significantly buffed as well, all of which make Abyss one of the mainstream farming strategies in Curse of the All Flame League.

  

  Scion

  Scion has received new ascendancies for two consecutive leagues. Reliquarian Ascendancy has been adjusted in PoE 3.29, bringing substantial overall enhancements to the class.

  The other addition is the new Luminary Ascendancy Class, which is tied to Mercenaries of Trarthus system. She is the only class that can permanently carry a mercenary and customise their gear, and her ascendancy passives unlock legendary equipment slots for the mercenary. This is expected to generate a large number of novel builds in the new version.

  The above outlines the winners and losers in Path of Exile 3.29. Be sure to steer clear of the nerfed aspects, as their performance will certainly fall far short of what they were in Mirage League.