Path of Exile update 3.20 has been brought out by Grinding Gear Games and it focuses on a new upcoming roguelike dungeon in the RPG called The Forbidden Sanctum. Additionally, the update overhauls several important systems, including the Atlas Tree and Occult Altars, while also bringing big improvements to rarely used unique weapons. It will also see the introduction of new Path of Exile monster mods to replace the controversial Archnemesis system, and the full release of Ruthless mode aimed at Diablo 2 veterans.
Path of Exile: The Forbidden Sanctum centers on the roguelike dungeon of the same name. Like many PoE expansions before it, this dungeon fits right in with the Path of Exile leveling experience, meaning you’ll be able to plunge into its deadly depths early on in your adventure, though you’ll likely need a lot of tries to get there. there. until the end. With each new area or map you explore in the base game, you will be able to enter Sanctuary.
Your journey to the Forbidden Sanctuary is guided by a new resource called Resolve – producer Chris Wilson explains that the team wanted to separate your progress from player health, which can fluctuate wildly from moment to moment. Encountering monsters or environmental hazards will lower your resolve, in some cases even more than your character’s health. This means it’s possible to lose in Sanctuary without dying, which is probably a welcome relief for those playing hardcore characters.
As with many of the best roguelike games, you’ll chart your course as you play, choosing from different types of pieces, each affecting your run in a different way. In some rooms you will receive ailments that will impose negative effects on you that will accumulate as you progress. You may even experience serious ailments at times, which can have very drastic consequences, such as stopping your Resolve recovery altogether. On the other hand, you can find gifts, and basic gifts, that give you advantages to counteract those disadvantages.
Sometimes you’ll come across source rooms that can replenish your resolution, along the lines of games like Hades (which Wilson says was a key influence on the mode), as well as games like The Binding of Isaac, FTL, and even the classic, like the original Rogue itself). Withered fonts can further restore resolution, but at a cost. As you progress, you’ll also accumulate a new currency called Aureus Coins, which can be spent at merchants but cannot be transferred between races.
In true roguelike mode, you will sometimes be required to make a cursed pact. They will give you three powerful boons, but at a high cost, such as losing much of your resolve or gaining some negative ailments. You can choose any of them, though Wilson assures us that he has the option of turning them off entirely if the risk seems too great for the associated reward.
When it comes to what you can expect from Forbidden Shrine, there are three key takeaways. First off, the monsters in Sanctuary will drop items regularly, just like you would in the normal game, so there’s still a good chance you’ll find a decent upgrade along the way. Second, some rooms will offer a monetary reward with a twist: you can either grab it immediately, or play for a higher payout if you complete the current floor, or an even higher reward if you can complete the entire streak. Wilson jokes that the initial rewards are very generous, but the team hopes the temptation to risk even bigger payouts will be too strong to ignore.
Finally, during your game, you will find relics that act as a kind of meta progression and can be placed on a special altar to strengthen your future Sanctum. Eventually, you’ll come across a special Consecrated Relic with mods that can directly affect your character’s physique – they can’t be crafted or modded in the normal way, but can be modded in certain rooms you’ll come across while exploring the shrine as a reward. to those who overcome their difficulties.
The Forbidden Sanctuary is by far the most exciting new feature in Path of Exile 3.20, but it’s far from the only one. There’s also an overhaul to the Atlas tree to allow players to focus more on specializations, and changes to Otherworld shrines to more clearly indicate what rewards you’ll receive from them.
This particular change reflects the aforementioned introduction of a new monster mod system intended to replace Archnemesis mods. As noted in the pre-update balance manifest, this is intended to replace mods that have multiple different effects with mods that each have a specific, well-specified effect, helping to improve on-the-fly clarity for gamers. players can quickly understand what a monster is. can do. do and what can make it dangerous.
Path of Exile 3.20 also introduces several new ability gems: Volcanic Rift is a fiery attack that can chase enemies around corners before exploding, and Ice Legion summons a ring of ice statues around your character that attack with a great, wide swing using your current gear. . armed. Ice Legion builds up multiple stacks that are consumed when used to summon that many statues at once, dealing massive damage in a flurry of multiple overlapping hits.
There are also new Vaal melee abilities that continue the trend of Vaal ability gems. They allow you to collect souls when you kill enemies, unlocking a special Vaal ability variant that can be used when enough souls have been collected. Vaal Flicker Strike blinks dozens of extra times – it’s a risky maneuver as you’re vulnerable during the process, but if you survive to the end, you’ll deal massive damage to every enemy hit.
Meanwhile, the Vaal Cleave has two unique buffs: one activates when you kill a rare enemy, allowing you to temporarily steal their modifiers and use them as your own, and the other activates when you kill a rare or unique enemy, bolstering your Cleave. usual. sharp. Wilson suggests that with judicious use, players should be able to sustain this Cleave buff almost indefinitely with multiple Vaal Cleave uses.
Along with a number of new unique items, some from the Forbidden Sanctuary and others newly found in the main game, Path of Exile 3.20 also introduces powerful buffs to certain unique weapons. For the most part, these are items that are generally underutilized, and Wilson tells us that the focus is almost always on a big buff to their damage stats, with “a dozen underutilized unique iconic weapons” being targeted.
There’s also a rebalancing of curses to make them stronger against unique mobs and main bosses, and previously announced gem updates that should make them a better source of ailment mitigation for players. Players can also expect some nice quality-of-life changes: energy shields now appear as a separate bar on top of your character instead of being superimposed on your health, and Beastcrafting recipes that add mods to jars now indicate what What will the mod do?
Finally, Path of Exile’s much-vaunted Ruthless mode, which is an optional character selector that dramatically increases item rarity, will be available to everyone in 3.20. Wilson says this optional mode is for old-school Diablo 2 players and those who really want to make sure each update makes sense, but notes that the team will be aggressively rebalancing it during this initial experimental release.
You can check out the Path of Exile: The Forbidden Sanctum reveal below:
The Forbidden Shrine certainly looks like an exciting addition and we can’t wait to try it out when Path of Exile The Forbidden Sanctum Update 3.20 Arrives December 9.
It will be interesting to see what other updates follow as Grinding Gear Games continues its journey towards Path of Exile 2, which according to Wilson is progressing well. Meanwhile, we have more of the best games like Diablo that you can play on PC.
Source : PC Gamesn
