Path of Exile 2's upcoming patch 0.2.1 teases several major endgame improvements

Ahead of all the excitement for a new league in PoE 1, Path of Exile 2 is also set to receive a mid-league update focused on improving the endgame rewards. Along with improving the drop rate of rare unique items, there are more of them being added to the game. The idea is to make these chase uniques acquirable more frequently, giving players a sense of achievement after potentially grinding for hours.

The increased drop rate, however, isn’t the only highlight of patch 0.2.1. There are also new Socketables to find, along with Expedition Logbooks changes, Trial of the Sekhemas update, and Ritual improvements.

What's changing in Path of Exile 2 patch 0.2.1

Patch 0.2.1 is once again all about providing better loot to players. The recent updates wee also aimed to make the same changes, but there wasn’t much difference. As mentioned above, rare unique drops are getting a buff, which also applies to a few other items.

While the patch notes will reveal the full changes, here’s an overview of what’s coming in the next Path of Exile 2 update.

Uniques and Sockatables

New Uniques incoming (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Apart from the drop rate increase, there are also new uniques and rework of a few old ones coming in the next patch. The new uniques are described as chase uniques, meaning they will likely be a part of endgame activities and contain some powerful modifiers.

These items and changes will be revealed next week alongside new Sockatables. A total of 22 new Runes, 14 new Soul Cores, and seven new Talismans are also being added to the game.

Rogue Exiles were added as a small feature where players may get raided by an NPC Exile. Upon defeat, they will drop their loot, which could include uniques they were using. Unfortunately, players barely got them to drop, which is why uniques acquired from Rogue Exiles will also be three times more common.

Atlas improvements

Atlas in Path of Exile 2 (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

In an internal testing, the developers found that out of 400,000 maps, players would get Hidden Grotto around 150,000 times. That’s why map randomization is getting an improvement. Along with that, a Citadel spawning will have two different types spawning around it instead of the same ones.

Endgame improvements include a nerf to Elemental Penetration map modifier, increasing the radius of breaches, and reducing the number of Bats in the Twisted Domain.

Twisted Domain and Trial of the Sekhemas

Better boons in Trial of the Sekhemas (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Twisted Domain is a pinnacle area, but the developers feel it doesn’t provide loot like a pinnacle area should. That’s why, the area is getting an increase in number of rare monsters. These will also have increased rarity, making the loot more valuable.

Speaking of rarity, even if players get nothing, they’ll at least have some rare breach rings. The developers have guaranteed a few drops in the upcoming update.

As for the Trial of the Sekhemas, there are some changes to boons and afflictions. Instead of afflicting players with no energy shield, the modifier now removes only half of the energy shield. Players will also get better boons.

Ritual, Essences, and Expedition changes

Better chance to get Corrupted Essences on using Vaal Orbs (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

The increase in chance to get rare items also applies to Omens and Essences. While doing Ritual activities, the amount of Omens dropping will remains the same, but there will be more rare in the mix. Similarly, using a Vaal Orb on monsters trapped in Essences also saw a 6x increase in getting Corrupted Essences.

However, the biggest changes seem to be directed towards Expedition Logbooks. High-level Logbooks had low density of monster, making loot and XP gain insignificant. The update will increase the distance for how far players can plant explosives.

Additionally, Logbooks features like Karui Totem Remnants are also being improved. The goal is to increase the number of monsters, which will allow Remnants to provide more XP. Similarly, Vaal monsters in the Frigid Bluffs Logbook will have bosses alongside regular monsters.

Lastly, the crates in Barren Atoll Logbook will get increased gold drop rate, but that’s not all. The number of Strongboxes in the area will also be increased by 10x and few of the new Runes will also drop from these areas.

Quality-of-life changes

Easily search passive skills in next Path of Exile 2 update (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Searching through the passive tree is getting an upgrade with added functionality of pressing Enter to jump to relevant nodes. The passive tree will also be darkened, except the highlighted nodes. Along with that, the tier information in item modifiers is also going back to how it was in PoE 1.

There will also be more clarity for Atlas map modifiers. Hovering over a map will now provide information about where the modifiers are coming from. Finally, we have the long-awaited performance optimizations. Currently, Path of Exile 2 requires a lot of CPU power. The update is optimizing the physics on monsters and NPCs to reduce CPU bottleneck.

Check out our other guides on Path of Exile 2:

About the author

Mayank Singh Rathour is an MMO writer at Sportskeeda. He graduated from college with a degree in Business Administration and has over two years of experience as an esports journalist.

Mayank was introduced to gaming at an early age and played Contra, Double Dragon, Castlevania, etc., on his Nintendo DS. When he was a little older, Counter-Strike — a title that majorly helped develop his passion for gaming — became his favorite pastime. Though he's played a bunch of games since then, his love of CS has remained strong. Shroud, a former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro, is an inspiration to him. He's also a fan of series' esports scene, following teams like Vitality, NAVI, and The Mongols closely.

When Mayank has some free time, he plays basketball and helps people build PCs.

Know More

Edited by Abu Amjad Khan