Path of Exile 3.23: Affliction is getting huge!

Holy moly, the hype train is going into the next round. Chris Wilson presented the upcoming Path of Exile league Affliction in a Twitch stream. We show you what you can expect.

When does the Affliction League start: Path of Exile 3.23 starts on Friday, December 6th on PC and as usual one week later for Xbox and PlayStation. The Affliction League not only introduces a new league mechanic, but also completely changes the entire gem system of Path of Exile. In addition, the Ultimatum mechanic is moving into the core game and the Metamorph mechanic is being removed.

The Affliction Mechanic in Path of Exile 3.23

In Path of Exile Affliction, you will encounter Sacred Wisps in the individual zones and maps that lead you into the Viridian Wildwood. It is pitch black there. Your task is to dispel the darkness by moving through it, thereby consuming the Wisps. Of course, new and powerful monsters await you in the darkness. If you have no more Wisps left, you return to the normal game zone.

New characters, shrines, boss encounters and battles also await you in the Viridian Wildwood. Follow the Wisps to uncover all the secrets. Along the way, you will collect other types of Wisps. As soon as you leave the Wildwood and return to the normal game, all of these Wisps will scatter around the environment and lie down on randomly selected monsters. There are three types of Wisps, all of which have their own effects on the monster they occupy. A monster can also be affected by all three wisps at the same time.

Wisps show you the way through the darkness.

• If a monster is inhabited by Primal Wisps, it grants a bonus to item rarity.
• Wild Wisps give you a bonus to item quantity.
• Vivid Wisps drop currency items.

If a monster gets all three types, it drops more items with a higher rarity and a lot of currency.

New Wildwood Ascendency Classes

On your way through the Darkness, you will sooner or later come across some of the last Azmeri Wanderers who have somehow managed to survive there. You can complete quests for one of these three walkers to unlock one of three new Ascendancy classes that you can have in addition to your normal Ascendancy class. Yes, you read that correctly. In Path of Exile 3.23, you can have two Ascendancies, each with eight points, at the same time.

• Warden of the Maji: As a Warden of the Maji, you can use tinctures that coat your weapons and have powerful effects (e.g., Ironwood Tincture, which ensures that enemies with full life will always be stunned).
• Warlock of the Mists: With the Warlock of the Mists, for example, you get very powerful new abilities, such as Blood Hunt, which allows you to consume corpses to gain more damage and protection against monsters of the same type as the corpse.
• Primal Huntress: With this new Ascendancy, you can get Ascendancy points from the other classes (e.g. the Gladiator or the Juggernaut). By using charms in the Primalist's Ascendancy tree, you can equip these points.

This charm grants you one point from the Occultist Ascendancy.

New Rewards in Path of Exile Affliction

New rewards in Path of Exile Affliction
Path of Exile 3.23 introduces numerous new rewards, primarily by fighting monsters inhabited by the Wisps you collect. This influence should dramatically increase both the quality and quantity of items dropped. You can also find many new items in the Viridian Wilwood itself.

Transfigured Gems

GGG introduces one of the biggest meta changes in recent years with the transfigured gems. Alternate Quality Gems, Labyrinth Helmet Enchantments and Unique Threshold Jewels have been combined. The result are the transfigured gems: “alternative versions of existing skill gems that have different functionality and balance”. Path of Exile 3.23 introduces over 100 of these gems.

Transfigured gems have a different functionality and balance.

To obtain such gems, you must use the divine font at the end of the labyrinth as a workbench. You can not only create transformed gems there, but also do a lot more:

• You can sacrifice gems to receive Treasure Keys.
• You can exchange support gems for exceptional support gems such as “Empower” and “Enlighten”.
• You can add quality and experience to your gems.

You can create transigured gems at the fountain at the end of the labyrinth.

A lot will change with this innovation. Skills that were previously only used for leveling in the first acts of the campaign can suddenly gain endgame potential because they work completely differently.

It's impossible to predict what will be really strong in Path of Exile Affltiction. What is clear in any case is that builds that can run the labyrinth quickly and safely will make a decent profit. All new gems and upcoming adjustments can be found in the patch notes.

Ultimatum in - Metamorph out

The community has wished for nothing more than the return of the Ultimatum mechanic. In Path of Exile Affliction, these wishes are finally being fulfilled. Ultimatum has been completely overhauled and many new modifiers, Atlas Passives, key skills and rewards have been added, including new unique items.

Ultimatum is back.

However, the Metamorph mechanic has been removed from the game for Ultimatum. This also means that the corresponding points in the Atlas Tree have been replaced. All changes in the tree as well as all other adjustments can be found in the detailed patch notes as well.

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