Path Of Exile 3.26 Mercenaries Of Trarthus League Mechanic: How Does It Work? - Mechanic Detailed

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• Path Of Exile 3.26 Explosive Trap Trickster Build: How Does This League Starter Perform In Secrets Of The Atlas?

  If you were asked to vote for the most powerful boss killer in Path of Exile, who would be the first one that comes to your mind? I think Explosive Trap Trickster will definitely be on the list! 

  Honestly, this is a proven and powerful build that has been proven to be great in multiple leagues. So, if you want to get more advantages in Secrets of the Atlas league and handle boss battles with ease, this is the best starter build for you!

  In this guide, we will break down the pros and cons of Explosive Trap Trickster build, leveling tips, and various suggestions for becoming an Uber boss killer.

  

  Pros And Cons

  Now, I think it is most important to understand the pros and cons of this build, or how the build feels to play.

  First of all, this is a Trap build, so if you don’t like Trap builds, you will probably not like this one either. However, I recommend everyone try Explosive Trap at least once before playing in a league, get a simple setup in a standard league and try it out, maybe you will find something interesting in it?

  So, what are the advantages of this build? Honestly, it scales extremely well on a budget. Explosive Trap is a unique skill that has multiple scaling vectors that can be improved without a lot of investment in POE Currency. Therefore, it can deal a lot of damage earlier than almost any other similar skill.

  The skill also scales to billions of DPS if you want to destroy pinnacle bosses in the endgame, so it has the potential to deal critical hits to bosses.

  And because it is a Trickster, this build has a lot of flexibility, you can play a tank version, or a glass cannon, or something in between, depending on what style you like.

  There are disadvantages, however, this build is at best a usable mapper, and while it will not hinder your progress, it is not suitable for dedicated mapping strategies like Legions.

  Frankly, there are many better full screen clearing builds than this one, and choosing it is simply trading mapping for a very powerful bossing utility.

  

  Nerfs And Buffs From 3.26

  Now let’s take a look at what POE 3.26 update has affected, starting with the nerfs.

  Polymath There’s not much to say, it’s the only one that has an impact, and it’s pretty mild. We lost 7%-9% damage, depending on how you use your Passive Masteries. But overall, this is still super playable and has the potential to be an S-tier Boss Killer.

  The second nerf that affects us is the reduction in Evasion and Energy Shield provided by Escape Artist. Since this is a Hybrid build, the effect is somewhat weakened, and we lose about 120 Energy Shields. But it’s not a big deal.

  That’s all the nerfs, but it’s important to note that there are some pending patch notes that have not yet been released that may bring additional changes.

  For buffs, the developers have actually revealed some subsequent caster-related skill buffs. So ideally we’d get a buff along the way.

  Also, a big boost to the evasion roll for Kintsugi, a unique chest piece that was very popular at the start of the league. It now evades around 2800 instead of 2300 previously.

  Other than that, everything else about this build remains the same.

  Mercenaries

  Now, let’s take a look at what’s new with Mercenaries in this league. Honestly, the potential power they can offer looks pretty huge, they’re like a gold-funded Animate Guardian that you can equip and leverage for team play.

  Firstly, this is a bossing build, bringing a mercenary into an area means 50% more health on mobs and bosses, so be careful when actually using them. Make sure your mercenary can carry his loadout.

  Secondly, and I think most excitingly, in order for mercenaries to be more valuable with 50% more life, they may need to hold their own when mapping, which means you should probably set up a mercenary to help with the weakness of this build, which is map clearing.

  

  There are some ideas being floated right now: equip a Gravebind and an Explode Chest, and your mercenaries can just watch bombs go off.

  It’s hard to tell how awesome this would be without AoE investment at this point, but you can get some area damage with gear. There are a lot of general damage tools like Curse on Hit, Reduce Damage with Enfeeble, or adding an effect like Frostbite on top of Elemental Weakness to increase damage.

  If you’re having trouble getting a reliable source of Brittle early in the game or in SSF, you can also equip your mercenaries with Brittle Boosts and get defense with Kaom’s Binding and Sign of the Sin Eater.

  How To Optimize The Build?

  Now, as you progress through the map, make sure you’re regularly upgrading your weapons and getting a better base for your gear. Remember, the damage boosts from upgrading your weapons are probably the key to making the campaign feel the smoothest.

  You can also increase the throwing rate of your traps. However, I would caution you against using flat damage, as the added damage of Explosive Trap isn’t particularly amazing, it scales with AoE, overlaps, and gem levels.

  However, as you progress, you’ll gain links on Explosive Trap, and you’ll find that casting the trap is very mana-intensive. So, you have to manage the mana cost of the trap properly based on how many links you have, and make sure you use the right gems at the right time.

  Unique Items

  This build has basically no mandatory items, but there are a few unique items that can make your upgrade in Red Maps very smooth.

  They are Wyrmsign, a pair of gloves that give you 5-links for free, and Nycta’s Lantern, which grants you Battlemage. It is a modifier that allows the player character to gain additional spell damage equivalent to the damage of the main-hand weapon, which is very powerful, especially in the early maps.

  The price of these items is not too high, a few dozen Chaos Orbs are enough, and it is completely affordable in the early stages of the league.

  

  Damage Scaling

  Next, let’s talk about some other stats that are important for damage.

  By far the most important is the gem level, both on the weapon and the amulet, which are key to increasing damage.

  Also, you need to make sure you have a level 21 Explosive Trap Transfigured Gem. If you’ve been in the league for more than a day or two, you can most likely get one on the trade market for a lower price. Also, make sure you have a high-quality gem.

  Other stats that help you deal damage include: spell damage, critical strike, multi-spell critical strike chance. One of my favorites is double damage or double damage when focused, which allows us to easily kill enemies with one shot!

  Map Farming Priority

  Now, when we get to the late red map, what should we prioritize farming with Explosive Trap Trickster build to get the most benefit?

  Personally, I would recommend that you can farm Betrayal and Expedition first, and then Invitations.

  After farming these maps, you can still get the same number of boss fragments. Then farm Invitations, and if you don’t like the mods it drops, you can also use a trumpet, then snowball your money and invest in your character, so that your boss battle budget can easily reach a medium level.

  As you start to challenge more and more difficult Invitations, you will eventually encounter Pinnacle Boss. Don’t worry, 40 million DPS is enough to beat all bosses!

  The above is all about Explosive Trap Trickster league starter build. Are you ready to re-enter Path of Exile? I hope this crazy single-target killer will give you a better experience in your new league journey! Good luck!

• Path Of Exile 3.26 Top 5 Starting Builds: How To Fight When You First Enter This League?

  In any Path of Exile expansion, to improve combat efficiency, you must craft and utilize builds. We all know that higher-level skills, rarer gear, and more orbs can make builds better, but it is difficult to have so many resources when entering a new league.

  So for you, facing the official opening of 3.26 Secrets of the Atlas in just three or four days, the top priority is to find the right builds for “opening up the wasteland”.

  Although the early content of the game is not too difficult, POE series has always been known for its hardcore. So these builds must be powerful enough without investing too many POE Chaos Orbs and other items.

  It is undoubtedly difficult to develop such builds on your own, but fortunately, we will introduce 5 of them to you next!

  

  1. Penance Brand Of Dissipation Inquisitor Templar Build

  As its name suggests, this build is suitable for players with Templar as the base class and Inquisitor as Ascendancy class. As for Penance Brand of Dissipation, it is a spell that causes damage by adding energy to the branded enemy.

  The working principle of this build is simple, but it can even kill Uber bosses in one second - provided that you complete or collect the items it needs as much as possible, the first of which is Inspired Learning jewel.

  This jewel allows you to gain one of the monster’s attributes as a modifier for the next 20 seconds after killing a rare monster. This function is similar to Headhunter, although it is slightly weaker, but combined with the build will significantly improve your mapping efficiency.

  As you know, in 3.26 gameplay, the status of mapping has become more important because of Zana-related plot and mechanism. So if you like Templar class, this build is not to be missed.

  2. Flicker Strike Slayer Duelist Build

  As a strength/dexterity hybrid class, Duelist’s damage output and damage avoidance are both reliable, and its Ascendancy class Slayer expands its offensiveness.

  Based on this, this build further combines Flicker Strike, a melee attack skill, with the teleportation and short-term speed increase effect it provides, allowing you to quickly shuttle between maps while effectively clearing the field and causing more damage to single-type enemies.

  However, correspondingly, this build’s defense capabilities will be relatively poor, especially against physical damage, and it will provide limited help for your character upgrades. Considering that this guide focuses on “start ability”, it is normal to have unavoidable shortcomings.

  See More: What New Changes Does Path of Exile 3.26 Secrets Of The Atlas Bring? - Endgame And New Mode

  3. Molten Strike Zenith Juggernaut Build

  This build is mainly based on the utilization of Juggernaut (the base class is Marauders) combined with the skill Molten Strike Zenith, combining unimaginable tanky attributes with damage output - the premise is that you can accept its slower clearing speed.

  If conditions permit, you can add more reliable gear to this build to enhance it to reduce the negative impact of insufficient speed. For example, better two-handed weapons, because Molten Strike Zenith utilizes two-handed weapons to convert some physical damage into fire damage to hit the enemy.

  Other gear worth having include Alpha’s Howl, Oro’s Sacrifice, Perseverance, and most rings with certain resistances, which are relatively easy to get in the early stage. On this basis, you need to get as many melee attack enhancements as possible to play the power of this build.

  4. CWS Firestorm Chieftain Build

  This is actually an AFK type build, which mainly utilizes Firestorm spell to launch a rain of flaming arrows in a certain area to cause fire damage. Chieftain is another Ascendancy class of Marauders, which is fire-oriented and supports fire damage bonus.

  But in addition to this, the CWS element of the build (cast when stunned) requires you to ensure that all attacks can cause stun. Because although this build will form a huge storm when the enemy touches you, it also creates dependence.

  That is to say, if you encounter bosses with no minions around, you will consume more time than others to deal with them. For this reason, it is best to further combine the power of the skill Penance Mark, because it can mark targets and summon phantoms that can be continue to attack when attacking these targets, further weakening the enemy.

  

  5. Tornado Shot Deadeye Ranger Bow Build

  In fact, this build is not only suitable for 3.26, it should be regarded as one of the most classic builds in POE 1. With just a reliable bow and basic class skills, you can quickly pass the level with this build.

  However, in order to echo the theme of this guide, it is better to get a better elemental bow than jewels to maximize the role of POE currency in the early stage. And don’t forget to add an extra arrow module to the quiver.

  Although the relevant content of the 5 builds introduced above is more suitable for you to utilize when you first start playing the new expansion, in fact, in the later stage when you have more currency and gear, you can upgrade these builds to make them also benefit your endgame experience, unless you want to try new tricks!

• Path Of Exile 3.26 Endgame New Content And Changes: How To Farm Loot In This Expansion?

  As the official launch date approaches and the June 5th press conference is over, more information about Path of Exile 3.26 leagues has been revealed to you, and the most important and eye-catching ones are undoubtedly those related to the endgame.

  Perhaps because the arrival of 3.26 patch Secrets of the Atlas was more than half a year later than the expected normal time. In order to compensate players, this patch brought rich, interesting and challenging updates.

  Among them, the changes related to the endgame cover all aspects, but the most important ones are those related to the battles and quests you get loot. Based on this, we will introduce you to the relevant content.

  

  Mercenaries Of Trarthus Challenge League

  In order to make the game more hardcore, among the new mechanisms added to Path of Exile 3.26, the first one worth mentioning is the new mercenary challenge. These mercenaries are veterans from Trarthus, and each of them has a full set of gear and skills for you to learn.

  If you want to get more POE currency in the future battles with their help, you need to duel with them and win; or if you think that one person is enough, you can also take one item from their inventory and leave after winning the duel.

  It is worth noting that if you particularly hate some mercenaries, you can also temporarily prevent them from appearing in 3.26 mercenary pool again by winning the exile battle.

  However, once you add a mercenary to your team, it will actually increase the difficulty of the battles you will face later and the richness of the rewards. In addition, if you want to hire them, in addition to winning the duel, you also need to consume gold.

  Fortunately, 3.26 league has added the relevant gameplay of the previous league to the main game, so the content and resources including gold for hiring will be automatically provided to you after you enter Secrets of the Atlas endgame.

  Features Inherited From 3.25

  In 3.25 league, the core gameplay is to help Kalguuran pioneers build the town of Kingsmarch and establish trade between Wraeclast and their homeland. To do this, you need to defeat those destructive enemies while engaging in fun gameplay such as trade and mining.

  Although the main gameplay of the game will change after the expansion update, several important features in the Settlers Challenge League have been retained. In addition to the gold just mentioned, there are also currency exchange tools for trading crafting materials, and a black market that allows you to gamble on items.

  Even more conveniently, these three features will also be available in other towns after 3.26 league is launched, and you will be able to continue to utilize the transportation mechanism in the game to conduct many gear, currency and other transactions. Of course, if you want to utilize all these features, you must complete the campaign and unlock the corresponding progress points.

  But unlike 3.25, 3.26 expansion will allow you to obtain the newly introduced passive skill Tattoos by completing Trial of the Ancestors at Karui ports, or exchange with Kalguur to obtain new tools Runegrafts that are similar to Tattoos.

  Runegrafts are mainly utilized to replace mastery nodes on the passive skill tree, and their specific functions include simply changing the type of bonus items and providing Runegraft of Time bonuses. Tattoos have a chance to refresh the cooldown of skills immediately.

  

  New Maps Brought By New Plots

  As you know, mapping is one of the most important contents of the endgame of POE series of games, which can provide you with a lot of loot in the difficult endgame stage.

  As the official name of 3.26 represents, after this plot update, many rifts caused by the twisted Threads of Consciousness appeared in Atlas, and master cartographer Zana was trapped in it. You need to cooperate with the new character Eagon to enter it and find her.

  These rifts are actually a series of maps, and the specific map presentation depends on how your Atlas tree, scarabs, fragments, etc. are combined. Once you enter the map, you will find that the enemies in it are surrounded by a special effect called memory petals, which can be absorbed by defeating the enemies.

  Once you have absorbed them, you will find that the relevant new skills will appear in the mini bar next to your common skills, and the skills provided by different map monsters are also different.

  These skills are not only powerful, but also stack as your mapping progresses. If you defeat the boss of the current map, you will also encounter a special altar that will apply a modifier to the remaining maps - the more bosses you defeat, the more these modifier stacks.

  New Pinnacle Fights

  When you follow Threads of Consciousness to the final map, you will face dangerous bosses. After defeating all of these bosses, you will get special map fragments to further unlock new pinnacle boss fights.

  Although the pinnacle bosses may not be as difficult as Uber bosses, the rewards they provide cannot be underestimated. Whether it’s Starcaller axe or Wine of the Prophet flask, they can provide reliable assistance for your 3.26 endgame battle.

  In fact, in addition to these major endgame content updates, the new league also brings a lot of effective optimizations to enhance your Path of Exile experience. Let’s look forward to it together!

• Path Of Exile 3.26 Secrets Of The Atlas Guide: What Features Have Been Improved? - New Items And Features

  Path Of Exile 3.26 has finally been confirmed, and Secrets of the Atlas will be officially announced on Friday, June 13. This update is obviously not a small one, and the change log of Path Of Exile 3.26 is enough for every player to study for half an hour.

  This update will lead players to further explore the secrets of Atlas, and there will also be new currencies and new features to improve the quality of life of players. Let’s have a look at what the updates are.

  Story

  

  Although most players may not care much about the plot of the game for this type of game, the plot of Path of Exile 1 is still quite interesting, and the plot of Secrets of the Atlas is related to the content of the endgame changes.

  Because of threads of memory, cracks appeared in Atlas. Cartographer Zana is trapped inside, and her memory makes the monsters in the map more dangerous. You will work with a man who is investigating everything, Eagon, to enter the distorted area and find Zana.

  In these distorted areas, monsters are injected with Memory Petals, and players can collect Memory Petals by killing monsters to get unique abilities. Currently known abilities are:

  • Memory of Disbelief: Affected monsters only drop valuable items such as POE currency and maps, and no longer drop equipment.
  • Memory of Panic: Monsters can be reborn once after death, and you can get double XP and loot.
  • Memory of Impatience: You can absorb the souls of surrounding enemies, giving you temporary enhancements.

  Your exploration in these maps will eventually get three clues leading to Zana, and at the end of each clue, there will be a new pinnacle boss waiting for you.

  Mercenaries

  Mercenaries are a new feature of Path Of Exile 3.26. Single players finally don’t have to fight alone anymore!

  These veterans come from the cities of Trarthus. They are a bit like the exiles in POE 2, but although they have skills, they have a completely different skill tree from the player. They will appear in various areas in Wraeclast, waiting to provide a little help to anyone.

  If you want to hire these people, you have to meet their challenges. They are unwilling to work under people who are inferior to them. You can only hire them after you defeat them. You also have other options, asking them to hand over their things or simply ask them to get out of the way.

  Mercenaries have strengths and weaknesses, and some of them can’t help you at all. Some mercenaries you need to be careful of, they come from the four major death-trade families in Trarthus, and they also carry Infamous modifiers.

  You can recruit three mercenaries, but you can only take one of them in battle. Mercenaries challenge league has set up 40 Mercenaries challenges. After completing the challenge, you can get Watcher’s Wrath Armour Set and Mercenaries Totem Pole decoration.

  

  New Items

  POE always adds some new unique items or new currency with each update, and this time is no exception. The new content of Path Of Exile 3.26 is roughly as follows:

  • Focused Channelling (Support Gem): When supporting a spell cast by yourself, the longer the casting time, the higher the cost and the higher the damage of the supported skills. Minions’ skills are not affected.
  • Shaper’s Exalted Orb: Similar to POE Exalted Orbs, use this currency to add Shaper influence and a new Shaper modifier to a rare item.
  • Elder’s Exalted Orb: Use this currency to add Elder influence and a new Elder modifier to a Rare item.
  • Orb of Remembrance: It can randomly Memory Strands on common equipment.
  • Orb of Unravelling: It can upgrade the level of explicit modifiers by consuming all Memory Strands on an item.
  • Orb of Intention: This modifies maps affected by memory, causing items found to have more Memory Strands, but to drop fewer items.
  • Added 5 new Divination Cards and over 20 new unique items, some of which come from mercenaries and new pinnacle bosses.

  New Features

  Pause

  You can now pause the game almost anywhere, but you can’t pause during some pinnacle bosses because of their powerful power interfering with time.

  New Storage System

  Each map now has its own inventory. Some players will make a lot of maps at once and then start farming them, while others will make a single map and then farm it.

  The new Storage System is, of course good for both play styles, and it can reduce the time wasted by players sorting out their inventory.

  Automatic Collection Of Breach Splinters

  You no longer have to specifically collect Breach Splinters, as Breach Splinters dropped during combat will now self-collect and drop to your current location when active. If you are in a party, it will randomly assign Breach Splinters, and you will see a notification above your character whenever a Breach Splinter is collected.

  Settlers

  You can recruit settlers to open up ore for you and transport them to the port., you will not only receive rewards, but also a new passive skill tree mechanic, Runegrafts.

  There is a lot more to come in Path of Exile 3.26, including adjustments to unique items and atlases. This is an exciting update, and let’s wait until June 13 to see the details.

• Path Of Exile 3.26 (12 Flasks Worth Having): How To Improve Combat Efficiency?

  In the vast network of Path of Exile items, each item has the opportunity to provide you with combat bonuses through its own unique role. It’s up to you to understand these roles and choose the most suitable items for your class and builds.

  In comparison, flasks may be less eye-catching among all types of items - they can’t kill enemies with flashy attacks like weapons, and they are not as attractive as full sets of armor. But flasks may inadvertently bring the last 1% of your chances of winning.

  In about a week, Path of Exile 1’s 3.26 league Secrets of the Atlas will be online. Although the new league will bring changes, flasks remain reliable. Based on this, we recommend 12 flasks worth obtaining before then.

  

  1. Blood Of The Karui - Life Flask

  The effect of this flask is straightforward and self-explanatory, that is, it can instantly restore your health to full state. This way, if you utilize Blood of the Karui at the right time, you may even have a chance to win in a healthy state.

  Because of this powerful effect, this flask is very rare. In addition to converting it with Orbs of Chance, the easier way is to exchange it by POE Exalted Orbs in the market. It is very unlikely to drop it in battle.

  2. Lavianga’s Spirit - Mana Flask

  While this flask is in effect, you can cast spells directly without consuming any resources, which is very suitable for builds or classes that rely on spells and consume a lot of mana. However, it should be noted that this effect only lasts for 3.25 seconds.

  3. Divination Distillate - Hybrid Flask

  The hybrid of this flask is that it not only restores some of your life and mana, but also increases the rarity of some of your gear. As you know, the higher the rarity of gear, the stronger it is, so it is recommended that you bring this flask before entering a difficult boss battle.

  4. Rumi’s Concoction - Utility Granite Flask

  Utilize this flask to make you invincible for 6 seconds and help you resist enemy attacks and spell damage by greatly increasing your armor effect. If you can’t avoid damage for various reasons, Rumi’s Concoction will play a key role.

  

  5. Atziri’s Promise - Utility Amethyst Flask

  As another important utility flask, Atziri’s Promise is characterized by its offensive nature. By increasing your chaos resistance by 35% and other additional effects, increasing your overall chaos resistance and output elemental damage, you become an unstoppable POE chaos warrior.

  6. Oriath’s End - Utility Bismuth Flask

  This flask has an offensiveness comparable to Atziri’s Promise. When you kill enemies while equipped with it, these enemies have a 20-30% chance of exploding into random elements.

  On top of that, if the first enemy you kill has a higher health, further chain damage may occur, as the final damage dealt by Oriath’s End depends on the enemy’s maximum health.

  7. Lion’s Roar - Utility Granite Flask

  This flask focuses on both your survivability and melee damage output, so it is suitable for use with melee classes and builds, which can bring unexpected benefits. But its utility is relatively average for other types of builds.

  8. Kiara’s Determination - Utility Silver Flask

  In a sense, this flask has the potential to make you invincible, because after activating it, you will be completely immune to the stun, freeze, freeze and curse effects caused by the enemy, and will gain Onslaught bonus.

  However, it should be noted that Kiara’s Determination cannot clear the negative effects that you got before, so the premise for obtaining the benefits it provides is that you will not fall into a coma.

  9. Rotgut - Utility Quicksilver Flask

  This flask’s benefits include increased movement speed, duration, and a chance to gain a charge per critical hit, but most importantly, it grants you 3 seconds of Onslaught charge per stack of your Frenzy effect - this will make your Frenzy builds more powerful.

  10. The Sorrow Of The Divine - Utility Sulphur Flask

  As a unique sulphur flask, its most prominent feature is that it generates Consecrated Ground for you. In addition, The Sorrow of the Divine also provides you with a 40% damage bonus and restores your energy shield when you utilize other life flasks.

  11. Cinderswallow Urn - Utility Silver Flask

  In addition to granting your Onslaught effect, the most important use of this flask is to combine it with fire elemental builds, so that you can deal more damage to ignited enemies and help you restore charges when you consume such enemies.

  12. Vessel Of Vinktar - Utility Topaz Flask

  The effect of this flask focuses on the lightning element, which can greatly increase your lightning resistance and also cause you to send out lightning shocks to cause damage. It is worth noting that this damage will not only affect the surrounding enemies, but also yourself.

  But don’t worry, Vessel of Vinktar will absorb the life of the enemy while damaging them, and then for your utilization, so you should not lose too much life because of it.

  In fact, in addition to these 12 flasks, there are many flasks worth having in POE. You can discover more through tasks or other challenges after 3.26 league is launched!

• Path Of Exile 3.26 Possible Nerfs & Buffs: What Changes Will Make This League Better?

  After nearly 11 months of waiting, the new league of the first Path of Exile game, Secrets of the Atlas, will finally be launched on June 13, and there will be a related press conference on June 5, when you will learn more about it.

  Based on past experience, you should know that every time a new expansion is released, POE 1 will appropriately nerf or enhance the existing content based on the performance of the previous leagues and player opinions to make the game more balanced.

  So, although the press conference has not yet started, you can speculate on what changes will be made to 3.26 league based on the performance of 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur.

  

  Nerf - Lightning Strike

  As an effective melee attack skill in POE 1, Lightning Strike converts your output physical damage into lightning damage to increase the damage effect. In addition, it can also cause damage based on your weapon by firing projectiles.

  Entering 3.25 league, the skill and the builds built around it have become even more powerful, as it not only attacks multiple times, but also has a huge single-target damage bonus, allowing you to earn more and rarer POE currency by killing bosses.

  While this is useful for completing your resource farming, any skill that is too powerful will disrupt the game’s combat balance. Therefore, it is reasonable to speculate that Lightning Strike may be nerfed in 3.26, or a more powerful new skill will be introduced to replace it.

  Nerf - Archmage

  The nerf prediction for this support gem is actually based on Lightning Strike, because Archmage’s role is to increase the lightning damage output of the supported skills based on your maximum unreserved mana.

  In addition, although the 3.25 nerf to defense aura caused a lot of damage to top caster builds, Archmage can help avoid most of the negative changes. Because most of the attack potential of the genre comes from stacking mana, which can be obtained through Archmage.

  Additionally, you’ll find that Archmage’s mechanics normally make it a contradiction in terms: you want to increase mana consumption to deal more damage, but you also need to control it to avoid losing all effective hits in the process.

  But as of 3.25, Archmage allows you to stack maximum mana to increase damage and effective hits, while also reducing the mana consumption of skills, allowing you to stay at full health most of the time.

  Obviously, this invisibly undermines the balance of Archmage itself, emphasizing its powerful side too much. Therefore, it is reasonable to speculate that this feature of the support gem may be nerfed after 3.26 goes online.

  

  Nerf - Ephemeral Edge

  This weapon functions similarly to Energy Blade and can be scaled similarly, but the difference of Ephemeral Edge is that its attacks add maximum lightning damage equivalent to 20% of your energy shield.

  It is expected that this weapon may be nerfed in either attributes or rarity to achieve a better balance of strength. However, if the rarity is weakened, it will bring a series of chain reactions, because this means that the way to obtain or redeem the weapon must be changed accordingly.

  Buff - Self Cast Spells

  This actually refers to a type of builds that output damage by manually casting spells. But in 3.25, with the addition of other new skills, the effectiveness of this build has decreased, so the usage rate is not as good as before.

  Buff - Top-Side Passive Tree Defenses

  If you have been playing POE 1, you will find that defense with spell-casting as the main gameplay has already seemed a bit strange before 3.25.

  Most casters will choose to invest in suppression in the upper right area of ​​the passive tree and utilize stats such as dodge to enhance defense against enemy spells and attacks. Some casters will unlock armor and energy shield masteries on the left side of the passive tree.

  But in patch 3.25, both masteries were replaced by other options, and determination and grace were also weakened, forcing you to get enough attributes to equip those new armor or dodge levels, but this is actually difficult to do because 3.25 also strictly restricts the acquisition of these attributes.

  Buff - Remake Two Ascendancy Classes

  As you know, whether in POE 1 or 2, you can get a richer and more powerful class combat experience by unlocking Ascendancy class. According to the performance of each Ascendancy class in 3.25, we predict that Assassin and Elementalist should be remade to enhance.

  The problem with Assassin is that it is too mediocre, so 3.26 league can completely learn from the design ideas of some Ascendancy classes in POE 2 and thoroughly transform it, so that it can be more powerful while reflecting more characteristics.

  As for Elementalist, the places where it should be modified are mainly reflected in the nodes, such as Bastion of Elements or Damnation. In addition, the golem branch of Elementalist also needs more improvements.

  The above content is just our prediction of Path of Exile 3.26 based on the performance of 3.25. The actual content changes will not be confirmed until at least after the press conference. But at least we can be sure that 3.26 will definitely be committed to bringing you a better gaming experience!