Path of Exile 2 The Third Edict: 0.3 walks back all the Skill nerfs in 0.2, and then some

Grinding Gear Games promised a big update for Path of Exile 2 patch 0.3, and the studio is keeping its word. The next chapter for the game, The Third Edict, will launch on August 29, 2025. In addition to new Gems, the update will bring several changes to existing Skill Gems following some massive nerfs in the last major update. Ascendancies will also be getting buffs, making them much stronger or at least bringing them on par with how things were before the nerf.

Overall, the upcoming patch is expected to improve players' survivability and damage by a considerable margin. While a list of complete changes will be available in the upcoming patch notes, the recent official livestream revealed plenty to talk about.

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Path of Exile 2: The Third Edict buffs skills and characters

Lineage Support Gems in Path of Exile 2 patch 0.3 (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

The Dawn of the Hunt update saw a spree of negative reviews from players, with a majority of them being due to the nerfs to characters and Skill Gems. The balance changes also pushed the majority of the player base towards a handful of meta skills for the endgame.

Grinding Gear Games did some damage control through mid-season patches, but it wasn’t nearly enough. The only solution was another balance change, which the developers promised to address with patch 0.3.

Skill Gem changes

• Escape Shot now creates Ice Fragments that explode after a short duration.
• Ice-Tipped Arrows is a new skill that allows projectiles from bow and spear skills to create Ice Fragments regardless of the element.
• Freezing Salovo shoots additional arrows based on the number of Ice Fragments on the ground.
• Snipe can consume the Freeze effect to deal more damage to the enemy and even more damage against bosses.
• Toxic Growth is ditching the jumbo shot and will now rain arrows on enemies for better usability.
• Toxic Domain is a new skill that creates an AoE that grants increased life regen to the character and inflicts toxic pustule growth on enemies hit by projectile attacks.
• Electrocuting Arrow now shoots as a regular projectile, allowing players to use better Support Gems.
• Mirage Archer is a new spirit reservation skill that creates a clone on dodge that uses an assigned Skill Gem.
• Volcanic Fissure now branches into multiple fissures, resulting in a greater AoE.
• Forge Hammer is a new skill that allows you to throw hammers and deal damage in a small AoE. Activating a Warcry at the hammer’s location will make it explode and create Volcanic Fissures. The fissures can be activated multiple times using slam skills.
• Perfect Strike's AoE has been increased.
• Molten Blast will not move the character forward anymore, and it has a higher chance of igniting.
• Ancestral Cry is a new skill that charges Glory. Reaching max Glory will Ancestrally boost all attacks. Moving while Ancestrally boosted will trigger every fissure in the ground.
• Shield Charge does not have a cooldown anymore and deals more damage based on the distance traveled.
• Shield Wall's AoE has been increased. Slamming the wall with Shield Charge will destroy it, causing damage to enemies in front.
• Fortifying Cry is a new skill that empowers all other shield skills.
• Magma Barrier no longer requires proper timing to be activated.
• Seismic Cry now guarantees Stun on enemies primed for the effect.
• Sunder now provides a "Sundered Armor" debuff on enemies, making them take 40% more Physical damage.
• Ancestral Warrior Totem saw increased damage and a reduction in Endurance Charges to activate. Also, there is no longer a limit on the number of totems.
• Mortar Cannon is a new skill that lets you socket grenade skills and fire them on your behalf.
• Hits from all Attack Minions are guaranteed, making them much more reliable.
• Brute Minions can use Warcries to intimidate enemies and detonate all Frozen ones nearby, including allies.
• Frost Mage Minion’s command skill now grants Frost Armor to others. Minions with the armor also count as Frozen, which Brute Minions can detonate.
• Multiple Minion skills saw a reduction in Spirit cost, and Specters have received a damage buff.
• Staggering Palm can stack duration when used multiple times in a row.
• Wind Blast now Dazes enemies on hit.
• Using Vaulting Impact on Dazed enemies will now break their stance and have them take more damage.
• Elemental Weakness lowers enemy resistance to all elements, saving Spirit cost.
• Frost Bomb inflicts Elemental Exposure instead of Clod Exposure.
• Frost Bomb, Orb of Storms, and Living Bomb can create an Elemental Infusion that empowers other skills.
• Clod Snap is now just Snap and detonates all elemental ailments and creates infusions.

Additionally, all the attribute requirements for Skill Gems have been reduced by 25%, allowing players to focus on useful passive nodes. Speaking of nodes, the Passive Tree also brings several new clusters of powerful nodes, adding more options for buildcrafting.

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State of Monk after Path of Exile 2 patch 0.3

Path of Exile 2 Monk class (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

• The Hollow Pal Technique Keystone allows the Monk to use all quarterstaff techniques bare-handed. Stacking defense stats like Armor, Evasion, and Energy Shield increases the damage.
• Walker of the Wilds leeches mana based on elemental damage types instead of Physical.
• Unraveling is a new Ascendancy passive that can Shock, Chill, Ignite, and Free enemies taking Chaos damage.
• Sap of Nightmares can leech based on Chaos and Physical Damage.
• Damage has been increased for Into the Breach and Embrace the Darkness Ascendancy passives for Acolyte of Chayula.
• Grasp of the Void is a new Ascendancy passive that leaves Void illusions on dodge. The illusions explode on being destroyed.

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State of Warrior after Path of Exile 2 patch 0.3

Path of Exile 2 Warrior class (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

• The Answered Call Ascendancy passive for Warbringer now provides +1 to the number of max totems and triggers Ancestral Spirits when summoning a totem.
• Greatwolf’s Howl is now merged with Warcaller’s Bellow, freeing up two Ascendancy points.
• Encased in Jade is now permanent and isn’t removed on taking hits.
• The Warrior class does not require investment in Accuracy to hit close-range attacks.

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State of Witch after Path of Exile 2 patch 0.3

Path of Exile 2 Witch class (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

• The Sanguimancy passive is now active by default for Blood Mage.
• Demon Form will retain weapon stats to empower damage.

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Other changes coming with Path of Exile 2: The Third Edict

Mercenary exploring Act 4 in Path of Exile 2 (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

The core defense stats in Path of Exile 2 have felt a little lacking since the game’s release. That’s why the next update is making changes to Evasion and Armor, two underwhelming defense types that pushed a majority of players towards stacking Energy Shield.

Evasion is useful in evading enemy hits and attacks, but it wasn’t useful against AoE, something a lot of enemies use. To make it stronger, there’s a new stat called Deflect, which will prevent 40% of the damage dealt by enemies. This stat is affected by stacking Accuracy and can reach 100% to provide a permanent 40% reduction in incoming damage.

Until patch 0.3, Armor did not provide any defense against elemental damage, which made it feel weak in high-level content. However, new stats that provide Armor against elemental damage will now be available as modifiers and nodes on the Passive Skill Tree.

Monk exploring Act 4 in Path of Exile 2 (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

All characters investing in Accuracy, like Monk, Ranger, and Huntress, will benefit from the incoming damage reduction facilitated by Deflect. Characters investing in Armor, like Warrior, will benefit from more elemental damage resistance.

Furthermore, attacks from enemies (except for the unblockable boss attacks) can be parried, making it easy to get out of a tight spot. Additionally, players' moving speed while blocking has been increased, and reloading crossbows no longer incurs a movement penalty.

Elemental ailments on enemies previously lingered only for a short duration, which wasn’t enough for better attack combos. To improve that, Shock and Chill on monsters is increased to eight seconds, and Freezing attacks will now freeze enemies more effectively. Banner skills also had their durations increased and won’t disappear when moving out of their AoE.

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Check out our other guides on the game:

• Path of Exile 2: Is Heatproofing worth it?
• SSF Warrior is the true Dark Souls of Path of Exile 2