Grinding Gear Games held a full presentation for the massive update 0.4.0 for Path of Exile 2, launching December 12 at 12 PM PST with a heap of fresh content. As before, Jonathan Rogers and Marc Roberts served as hosts. During the livestream, they outlined what players will receive next week.
The update titled "The Last of the Druids" introduces a new playable class in the form of (surprise) the Druid. This fearsome nature mage stands out not only for his spells but also for his ability to transform into a bear, werewolf, and wyvern. Each form has its own combat abilities.
Story-wise, the Druid lost his human form in the forests of Ogham following the death of other druids at the hands of the Mists' Master. Now awakened, the hero seeks to find his missing wife and reclaim his humanity. At launch, the Druid will have two ascendancy classes:
- Druid: Shaman — channels nature's wrath, using ferocity to amplify his spells and becoming a walking catastrophe with meteors, lightning, and ice raining from the sky
- Druid: Oracle — has perfected the gift of foresight and uses it in combat, gaining a massive advantage by seeing into the future and knowing enemy movements in advance, and can even select passive skills from alternative timelines
Beyond the new class, the update includes:
- Over 35 new support gems
- Over 8 new dynasty support gems
- Over 250 new passive skills
- Over 10 new unique items
- New two-handed weapon class — Totems. Used for attacks while shapeshifted
- 4 new flasks with unique properties
- Character rebalancing, bug fixes, and visual/audio improvements
The "Vaal Fate" challenge league deserves special mention. Players will explore the opulent temple of Vaal Queen Atziri at the height of her power. To preserve her youth, she's willing to risk her entire civilization, aided by court servants including an architect. The architect, like Atziri herself, serves as a boss.
Throughout the league, players will sacrifice corruption-tainted monsters found near activated Vaal structures across Wraeclast. This feeds the devices that allow heroes to travel to Atziri's temple.
The league's distinctive mechanic is the ability to build your own dungeon. Through sacrifices, players gain energy to create their own temple layout with diverse rooms, modifiers, trials, and more. Each temple chamber offers rewards — from currency and equipment stashes to "something more interesting." Developers have prepared over a dozen room types.
The early access version of Path of Exile 2 is available on PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, website), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series. During an interview, Jonathan Rogers stated that developers definitely don't want to delay the full release until 2027, though no exact timeline for version 1.0 exists yet. As a reminder, the game will become free-to-play after launch.
News Writer | Editor
Erika Adzhaia is a talented writer and journalist with over 11 years of experience in editorial and copywriting. Erika is a wordsmith and a deep video game lover who successfully combines her literary talents with her love of video games.
Back to Top
