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Patch of Exile Patch 3.18 is here, ushering in the Path of Exile Sentinel League. Here's all of the changes you need to know.
Path of Exile is an ARPG known for its frequent major updates, making its player base come back often for a fresh economy and new content. This time, Path of Exile: Sentinel is adding a new set of mechanics for the league content, which will be a delight for many kinds of players. If you want to learn more about the Sentinel Challenge League, we have written a concise article explaining the important mechanics to learn as you enter the new patch here.
Apart from the new mechanics introduced by the Sentinel league, there are also a lot of substantial changes to the core mechanics of the game that will surely affect future leagues to come.
Atlas Passive Tree Additions
Path of Exile’s previous league, Archnemesis, was introduced along with the Siege of the Atlas endgame expansion, which completely overhauled the map system as well as adding the massive Atlas Passive tree. The new map system streamlined the tedious endgame progression that existed before the expansion and generally made mapping a lot easier than ever before.
The Atlas Passive tree is one of the biggest additions to Path of Exile’s intricate endgame. This passive tree allowed players, for the first time, to have unparalleled Atlas-wide control over the kinds of content and rewards each player would like to choose.
In Patch 3.18, GGG has double-downed in this direction by adding Keystones in the Atlas tree. Similar to the passive skill tree, Keystones are important nodes that provide a gameplay-defining effect, at the cost of a notable downside or restriction. These Atlas Keystones will be vital for players who want to maximize their returns from mapping.
A new cluster of notables will also be added in the Atlas tree, which has the ability to block certain league mechanics from appearing in maps while improving the chances of other content showing up. For players who are peeved by certain league mechanics (for example, Ritual or Blight), this is the perfect way of completely avoiding them. These notables can also be included in certain strategies that focus on one specific content.
Uber Pinnacle Bosses
Among the newly added Keystones found in patch 3.18, are six unique ones that unlock encounters with Uber versions of the newest pinnacle bosses. Like Uber Atziri and Uber Elder, these Uber versions of the new bosses represent the hardest content that Path of Exile has to offer. These encounters will be difficult even for the grandest of characters, but they also reward exclusive loot that will be worth a fortune.
Brand New Unique Items
Patch 3.18 introduces five new unique items, all of which have the potential to define certain builds or enhance strong builds to even greater heights. These items are The Burden of Truth, Echoes of Creation, The Eternal Struggle, Call of the Void, and Impossible Escape. These items can be obtained as drops from The Infinite Hunger, The Black Star, The Shaper, The Uber Elder, The Maven, and Sirus.
Path of Exile Patch 3.18 Gameplay Balance Update
It’s pretty weird to say this, but there’s none. And that’s a good thing. Game balance is a very delicate thing to fiddle with, and GGG must have determined that 3.17’s balance is good enough as it is, for now. Patch 3.18 contains no nerfs or buffs to any Ascendancy, skill tree, items, or gems. This implies that any build from 3.17 should work exactly the same in the newest patch.
Monster Mods Overhaul
Two of the old PoE leagues, Bloodlines, and Nemesis, have introduced a lot of monster mods that only ended up as clutter as time went by. Following the success of the Archnemesis league, GGG has removed all the mods from the bygone leagues and replaced them with the newer mod classifications introduced by Archnemesis.
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This change is very important for many endgame players, including the ones who play Hardcore. The new monster mods are now color-coded and easily readable, which makes identifying threats faster, and saves your character from many deaths that could have been easily avoided.
Since Archnemesis mods are tiered in difficulty, monster experience, and loot will also scale based on the difficulty of the mods on the monster, instead of their relative proportional size. This can make higher-tier maps more rewarding, but also more dangerous with mobs who possess synergistic Archnemesis mods.
Challenge Rewards
One of the reasons why players come back to play fresh leagues is the Challenge Reward system, which is also getting a good change in 3.18. Previously, players unlocked rewards by completing ‘missions’, known as challenges, throughout the duration of the league. Every league contains 40 challenges with increasing difficulty, which sets a general difficulty rating for every milestone that you want to reach.
In 3.18, the early challenge milestones are now easier to achieve, as they moved the 12 and 24 challenge milestones down to 6 and 12. GGG also added more milestones along with their own rewards, so that players will be able to get more without having to go all the way to the final few milestones.
To hype up the playerbase, Sentinel League’s challenge rewards include two armor sets with wings, which is probably the first time GGG has given this type of reward from challenges.
Controller Support and Steam Deck
Alongside Sentinel’s launch comes the official launch for controller support for Path of Exile. For those with disabilities or orthopedic issues, this is quite the news, since playing PoE with a mouse and keyboard for extended periods of time can be very stressful for the body. This also means that PoE can now be run on the Steam Deck, though performance in endgame content has not been revealed yet.
Afterthoughts
Grinding Gear Games have always delivered well for every league they have released over the years, and the current state of the game is proof that they are still going in the right direction. Path of Exile 2’s launch is still up in the air, but players will still enjoy every league that leads up to the eventual release of this game’s long-awaited sequel.
And that's all of the changes you need to know about Path of Exile Patch 3.18. For the full patch notes, check it out here.
