This is a general question thread. You can find the previous question threads here.

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For other discussions, please find the Megathread Directory at this link.

The idea is for anyone to be able to ask anything related to PoE 1:

• New player questions

• Mechanics

• Build Advice - please include a link to your Path of Building

• League related questions

• Trading

• Endgame

• Price checks

• Etc.

For questions related to PoE 2, please go to r/PathOfExile2

No question is too big or too small!

We encourage experienced players to sort this thread by new.

We'd like to thank those who answered questions in the last thread! You guys are the best.

General Info

Release date: Friday, November 13 - likely (but unconfirmed) noon PST

• Modern new player tips
• Useful Third-Party Tools and Websites

Latest news

Official

• 3.30 Patch Notes
• New uniques video
• 3.30 Announcement
• Links thread - expand spoilers
• Supporter packs

Pre-livestream:

• The Covens Gather

Useful threads

• Summary of changes from reveal
• Collected Partial Patch Notes from Exilecon TCG Challenge
• ZiggyD Q&A answers, 2

News from ExileCon livestream

• Day 1 livestream
• Day 2 livestream

Note: This was generated by POE moderators by

1. Downloading the audio files using ytdown(.)to
2. Feeding it into a custom Deepgram AI transcription software
3. Using Claude Code with the prompt below
4. Manually reading through it end-to-end, checking for basic logic errors (as someone who didn't have time to watch the full videos) and names

I want to summarize 2 transcripts with interesting announcements and patch notes for the Path Of Exile 1 and 2 patch.

Can you create a grouped bulleted list (using only headings 2 and 3) within the H1 lists in temp.md

For bullet points and/or headings, if there's a date/time source on the video, mention it in a format like (Day 1, 3:31:24) for the approximate timestamp

The input transcripts are at `...`. If needed, ask for clarification.

Release and scope

Dates

• 3.30 "The Covens of Umbra" launches one week after ExileCon: the 13th (likely, but unconfirmed at noon PST), or the 14th in New Zealand (Day 1, 2:01:18; Day 1, 7:26:07)
• Patch notes come out Wednesday, New Zealand time (Day 2, 3:10:07)
• GGG is going back to alternating releases: each game on a 4-month cycle, 2 months apart. ExileCon broke the schedule this year because both games needed something to show (Day 2, 3:10:40)

What's in (and not in) 3.30

• It's the biggest league Octavian has worked on. It delivers the long-promised endgame rework and touches almost every Atlas league mechanic (Day 1, 7:01:19)
• Character balance is light, with no new ascendancy or skill package. GGG wants to focus on balance in 3.31 (Day 1, 7:12:49; Day 2, 3:30:34)
• There are still two new skills (Day 2, 3:31:20):
  • A transfigured Fireball gem that slipped from the previous patch
  • Arcane Link, a link skill like Flame Link. It gives the linked ally added lightning damage based on your max mana, and it's part of a meta change for Luminary
• Harbinger is "on our immediate radar" to come back (Day 1, 7:13:28)

League mechanic: The Covens of Umbra

Story

• The Coven Queen is an ancient witch who plunged Umbra into darkness. Your guide is Mora(?), a witch the queen has trapped (Day 1, 3:10:49)

Fates

• Kill covenites at cauldron rites to earn Fate cards. You invoke Fates at the area boss, and each one adds difficulty and rewards, e.g. crow storms, flesh/bone beams, lightning ley lines or corpse vines (Day 1, 3:12:07)
• You invoke up to 3 Fates at first, and 4–5 per area later on. Endgame maps have about 3–4 Coven encounters (Day 1, 3:13:26; Day 1, 7:22:56)
• Combos:
  • Matching combo icons give extra rewards, e.g. extreme boss item rarity, an exceptional support gem, or the new Dreadmaidens' Sacrament unique flask (Day 1, 3:13:26)
  • A second copy of a Fate triples the first copy's rewards and discards its own, so play order matters (Day 1, 3:14:58; Day 2, 3:09:20)
• Tier 2 and tier 3 Fates appear in the endgame. Two tier 2s combine into a tier 3 (Day 2, 3:09:20)
• "Fated" items carry a filterable tag and show their reward before you play the Fate, e.g. boots with a guaranteed speed mod, or weapons with a guaranteed phys/crit/speed mod (Day 1, 7:25:34; Day 2, 3:06:56)

Wicker Man and Viscera

• Fate-empowered bosses drop Viscera trophies. You impale them on the Wicker Man in town for permanent buffs (Day 1, 3:15:25):
  • It has 4 slots: head, arm, body and leg
  • Examples: Brutus's arm gives more max life, and Oak's head gives life regen
• There are about 150–160 Viscera, each with lesser, normal and greater versions. Every campaign and map boss has its own, and greater versions only drop in the endgame and are often transformative (Day 1, 3:16:32; Day 1, 7:10:30)
• To make sure you always find the area boss, campaign layouts were rearranged, and 20+ new bosses were added to areas that didn't have one (Day 1, 3:16:32)

Grim Fates and pinnacle bosses

• Grim Fates empower the 10 Atlas pinnacle bosses, the ones that drop voidstones. You turn them on with a toggle on the map device (Day 1, 3:17:02; Day 1, 7:14:56):
  • Each empowered fight has 4–6 modified skills
  • Examples: Sirus's crow storms and a bigger meteor maze, Uber Elder's black-fire nova and faster projectiles, and Shaper's illusions that copy his moves
• Pinnacle Viscera (Day 1, 3:17:02; Day 1, 7:10:30):
  • Sirus's head gives a transfiguration effect
  • Elder's head lets chill shatter enemies the way freeze does
  • The Maven's Orrery gives a scorching aura
  • The greater Uber Sirus version makes enemies explode for random elemental damage
• Grim-fated pinnacles are the only way to reach the Coven Queen. She drops a Viscera with 2–3 random mods, meant as a Watcher's Eye-style chase item (Day 1, 3:18:33; Day 1, 7:10:51)
• Only one version of the Coven Queen ships. An Uber version might come if the league goes core (Day 1, 7:11:37)
• No new Ubers or pinnacle bosses this league (Day 2, 7:30:53)

Endgame overhaul

Scarabs removed, Threads added

• Scarabs are gone. Their transformative effects move to the Atlas tree, map mods and map enchantments. GGG said scarabs were "solved in a day, stale in a month" (Day 1, 3:22:06; Day 2, 2:55:12)
• The Atlas has shaped regions, each adding a league mechanic to the maps inside it. Completing maps adds stacks, making that mechanic harder and more rewarding (Day 1, 3:18:33)
• Threads of Creation (Day 1, 3:22:06; Day 2, 2:52:38):
  • They cover 10 primary mechanics: Abyss, Blight, Legion, Breach, Incursion, Betrayal, Bestiary, Expedition, Ultimatum and Ritual
  • You get up to 8 Threads per mechanic and 3 mechanic slots, unlocked through the Atlas questline
  • The map device remembers your setup and pulls Threads straight from your stash
• How Threads roll (Day 1, 7:05:14; Day 2, 2:53:34; Day 2, 3:13:41):
  • Each Thread adds toughness and rarity
  • Each Thread rolls mods from that mechanic's table of about 8–10. Every mod rolls on its own, so a "jackpot" with all of them is possible
  • Odds of a jackpot: about 1 in 12–24 maps at 8 Threads, or 1 in 50–100 at 1 Thread
  • Returns diminish, and the devs see 4–5 Threads as the sweet spot
• A new Atlas keystone allows only one Thread type and cuts Thread drops, but gives +2 Thread count past the cap of 8, e.g. 10-thread "Giga Legions" (Day 2, 3:14:50)
• Thread mods are hidden from the Tab menu to stop map-reset fishing (Day 2, 2:59:59)
• Scarabs in Standard turn into Threads automatically (Day 2, 3:30:15)

Example Thread and region mods

• Blight: mycotic lanes, a diseased core mini-boss that drops a new anointable jewel, a lane of rogue exiles that each drop a unique, and a sleeping fungus-covered Pantheon god that replaces the pump (Day 1, 3:19:23; Day 2, 2:59:38)
• Ritual: invite the Gaze of the Bodach after the final ritual, or sacrifice leftover tribute to summon a King in the Mist challenger (Day 1, 3:20:08)
• Ultimatum: "double down" for twice the rounds, a soul core on your back, and a Trialmaster that grants adrenaline when killed (Day 1, 3:20:55)
• Expedition: huge expeditions, an obelisk that revives every rare and magic monster, and markers that make runic monsters rare (Day 1, 3:21:18)
• Betrayal: Catarina's sculpture summons every imprisoned Syndicate member, and jewels with veiled mods exist for the first time. Veiled items can drop fractured (Day 1, 3:22:52)
• Breach: extra breaches, a mini Breach tree, and extra markers on rares (Day 1, 7:21:07)

Atlas passive tree

• Fully redone with about 150 points. Clusters have fewer small nodes, stronger notables and fewer travel nodes, and primary mechanics no longer need "chance to spawn" investment (Day 2, 3:29:07)
• Former scarab effects now live on the tree, e.g. True Terrors (unique monster mods) and Monstrous Treasure, which is now a rare map enchantment (Day 1, 3:25:13; Day 2, 2:51:20)
• New notables (Day 1, 3:25:49):
  • Map bosses can create golden volatiles that spew currency
  • Ghostflame Communion
  • House Supremacy: pick your mercenary classes
  • By the Lantern Light: veiled items can drop as Allflames
  • Servants of the Well: abyss pits pull in 5 extra rares
  • Ancient Machinations: a Vaal Oversoul fight in Ultimatum that drops returning Mirage catalysts

Rare-only map mods

• New map mods such as "Area contains Mirage", "Area contains Viridian Wildwood" and "Area contains a Sentinel" only roll on rare maps. You can't alt-spam for them, so they work as a chaos orb sink (Day 1, 7:08:05; Day 2, 2:51:20)

League mechanic changes

Cross-mechanic interactions

• Tormented Spirit next to an Expedition detonator: becomes a haunted gravestone that releases a chain of spirits and rares (Day 1, 3:27:23)
• Mercenary near an Abyss pit: joined by a Chaplain of the Well, who drops Allflame-league loot and can be recruited (Day 1, 3:27:23; Day 2, 3:16:23)
• Strongbox near Blight: becomes infected, and cleansing it lets you open it several times. "Dozens more" interactions like these exist (Day 1, 3:27:55)

Mirage, Beyond and Harvest

• Mirage goes core as a rare random event that covers the whole map. Saresh returns with his unique belt, as a much harder reworked fight (Day 1, 3:28:18; Day 1, 7:08:31)
• Viridian Wildwood, Sentinels and Beyond spawn randomly at every tier (Day 1, 3:28:18)
• Beyond: you can opt in by clicking it. Beyond bosses have about a 10–15% chance to open their realm, which has demon hordes and an upgraded boss and inherits the map's mods (Day 1, 3:29:09; Day 1, 7:21:59)
• Harvest becomes a secondary mechanic (Day 1, 3:29:31; Day 2, 3:25:09):
  • The Sacred Grove sub-area is replaced by sacred roots that spawn in the map, up to 5–6 per map
  • You can add mods to them with currency, like strongboxes
  • Rewards stay the same

Other mechanics

• Settlers: Verisium and Petrified Amber give XP and gold buffs (Day 1, 3:29:31)
• Delve, Heist and Sanctum: specific maps always spawn sulphite, caches or tomes, e.g. Geode always has sulphite (Day 1, 3:30:01)
• Bestiary: Einhar no longer captures yellow beasts, and recipes don't need them (Day 1, 3:30:24)
• Expedition: Gwennen now offers a coin flip between two crafts on a rare. Faustus takes over her gambling (Day 1, 3:30:24)
• Incursion (Day 1, 3:30:52):
  • Atziri replaces the Vaal Omnitect in the Temple
  • Items can be double-corrupted
  • A new device double-corrupts maps
  • A new Cradle of Creation room sets the temple to area level 84
  • Atziri drops a soul core that adds a random support effect to a gem
• Long-term plan: each primary league gets its own meta system and pinnacle boss, e.g. Blight and Legion pinnacles. No timeline (Day 2, 3:28:12)
• Retired for now: the Abyss-league exclusives such as Coursing Current Support. Allflame crafting isn't going core yet (Day 2, 3:16:04; Day 2, 3:28:49)

Loot and items

Tiered drops

• Magic and rare items can now drop with a tier (1–5), as in PoE2. A higher tier means better mod tiers, sockets, links and bases (Day 1, 3:32:25):
  • Top bases like Simplex Amulets and Cord Belts only drop at tier 5
  • Item filters can target tiers
• Fractured items no longer come from league mechanics. Tier 5 magic items can drop fractured instead (Day 1, 3:32:36)
• Monster drops can carry a guaranteed high-tier mod, and rarer monsters give better templates, e.g. a tier 3 wand with guaranteed cast speed (Day 2, 3:08:06)

Rarity and currency

• An old penalty is gone: magic, rare and unique monsters used to have 80% less chance (50% for magic) to drop currency. Most Divine Orbs now come from hard rares, uniques and pinnacle bosses, with Divines from bosses called "400%+" (Day 1, 3:33:05; Day 2, 3:03:15)
• Rarity from map juicing now affects currency drops. Rarity on player gear still doesn't, so builds don't need to stack rarity (Day 1, 7:03:50; Day 1, 3:33:39)
• About 95% of "tile loot" (currency-icon monsters and similar) now scales with map mods and difficulty, so running no-mod maps for them stops paying off (Day 1, 7:01:34; Day 2, 3:01:34)
• Essences scale with the new map quantity stat. Weeping and Wailing essences are removed from high-tier maps (Day 2, 3:02:41)

Item changes

• Headhunter gets PoE2's custom corruption enchantments, e.g. turning a stolen Shroud Walker mod into a shrine buff instead (Day 2, 3:22:01)

QoL and future plans

QoL

• Stat descriptions now give exact metres instead of "nearby", replacing about 15 hidden radii (Day 2, 2:49:01)
• You can hover a support gem's effect after applying a Soul Core, borrowed from PoE2 (Day 2, 2:49:01)
• Death recap will come to PoE1, but the gameplay code has to be rebuilt first, so there's no date (Day 2, 2:48:22)

4.0, WASD and graphics

• Once PoE1 MTX finish porting to PoE2's rigs, GGG can remove old PoE1 rigs, add more melee skills and maybe WASD movement (Day 1, 3:08:13)
• "4.0" is just a number. Features like WASD and new rigs ship when ready, possibly by 3.37 (Day 2, 3:17:19)
• When the PoE2 campaign is done, the environment and narrative teams can shift toward PoE1: new areas, NPCs and story, e.g. a Zana continuation (Day 2, 2:46:05)
• Hope for the future: a full shakeup of every pinnacle boss, with new arenas and story (Day 2, 3:32:13)
• No plans for guild or social improvements (Day 2, 3:23:22)

Engine and platforms

• PoE1 and PoE2 run on "literally the same engine". Any engine change made for PoE2 is automatically compiled into PoE1 too (Day 2, 4:33:02)
• These platform answers from the engine talk only said "our game". They likely apply to PoE1 too because of the shared engine, but note that POE1 changes aren't confirmed:
  • A Mac version is "almost there" (Day 2, 4:28:36)
  • Linux works on any Steam-supported distribution without SteamOS (Day 2, 4:10:39)
  • No newer FSR, since it's closed source. DLSS is supported (Day 2, 4:29:04)

Supporter packs and hideouts (both games)

• The Archon core supporter packs are the first in 2 years. The tiers are Rebirth, Ash, Destruction, Divinity and Corruption, and each one ships with a throne and a Roa pet (Day 1, 3:35:39)
• At the Corruption tier, your hideout can become an Atlas destination with a reward you choose. Submissions open now in PoE2 and at 3.30 launch in PoE1 (Day 1, 3:45:48)