‘Forget everything you know’: Path of Exile 2’s first major update adds a new class and over 100 items

In the question and answer session following last Friday’s reveal of the first major Path of Exile 2 early access update, game director Jonathan Rogers jokingly warned players that everything is going to feel different: “People should really be going in with the expectation that nothing they knew about how the game was balanced before is the same — forget everything you know.”

Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt is what Grinding Gear Games is calling the loot-filled action RPG’s next patch, which will include the new spear-wielding Huntress class, new sub-classes, and hundreds of new and reworked items. It will also be a “nerf fest” when it comes to the most powerful builds players are used to, according to Rogers. “You’re going to find more shit that is outrageously broken again, but it is not going to be the same shit that was broken before,” he said.

Part of the reason so much is changing is because of the nature of Path of Exile 2. Unlike Diablo, where classes have their own unique abilities, Path of Exile classes can borrow spells and armor from anyone in the game. So whenever a new class is added, every other class gains new skills and items to use.

The Huntress is a pretty clear callback to Diablo 2’s Amazon, a warrior lady who specializes in mid- to long-ranged attacks all based around her spear. They’re also bringing two major skills to the game, including a rideable bird companion, and the ability to capture the souls of monsters like they’re Pokémon. When you trap a monster, they keep their randomized powers, which means there are probably thousands, if not millions, of different ones you can command in combat.

Mercenary, Warrior, and Witch players will each have a new ascendancy to try out. Mercenaries can control a bunch of minions and ballistae as a Tactician, Warriors can augment their weapons during combat as the Smith of Kitava, and Witches can raise an undead army while also being undead themselves as a Lich.

The rest of the changes coming with the patch are numerous and will be detailed before it goes live on April 4. If I had to summarize them I’d say the game is starting to expand the scope of its endgame with better onboarding for new players, adding more determinism to its item crafting, and finally loosening the difficulty of high-level dungeons by letting you retry them after dying.

Grinding Gear Games recommends players create new characters when the patch is out as if it were a proper new season, but all the changes will be available on the current “League” or server. If you choose to stick with your existing character, however, just don’t be surprised if your build sucks.