Path of Exile: War for the Atlas – An Entirely New Game

The War for the Atlas has arrived in Path of Exile! The seventh expansion in this award-winning ARPG comes in hard after five full years of success by the “ethical” free-to-play game. War for the Atlas introduces many new changes including the conflict between two Lovecraftian entities, the Shaper and the Elder, new gems, the Abyss League, and much, much more.

Continuing off from the Fall of Oriath, the Shaper, who has given players endless headaches, is now challenged by a new entity. The Elder,  supposedly more powerful, encroaches upon the Shaper’s territory with reckless abandon. The Abyss League, the newest league added to PoE, will showcase the Elder’s intruding influence in Wraeclast via fissures on the ground that spawn multiple creatures of the deep. Players can then challenge those creatures. Finishing off all the creatures by following the very end of these fissures will yield many rewards suitable to your character’s level. One can think of this as akin to the rifts in RIFT or FATEs in FFXIV, albeit in an infinitely respawning private-instanced map. This gives players another layer of depth in their game as they traverse through PoE’s original chapters, keeping it fresh for veterans and exciting for newcomers.

Ten new gems have also been included in the game, and these add more skills to the game. The biggest draw of these new gems is the new necromancy-type skills that players can gain. From the simple skill, raise the undead, to quickly teleporting to corpses and making them explode, you will certainly feel the true necromancy theme. Although only ten gems have been added, there are plenty of combinations to choose from to give your newly acquired skills different effects that will surely shape the flow of combat.

An expansion is not complete in Path of Exile without new places to explore, and War for the Atlas provides thirty-two brand new maps with increased challenges, new bosses, and a plethora of new end-game PoE items! Elder and Shaper items are those that you especially want here in War for the Atlas as they provide plenty of meta-changing abilities and attributes to keep that competitive leaderboard cutthroat.

There are also the new-fangled Elder Guardians that serve as bosses in pre-existing maps. They consume what the boss would be on a map, and get stronger in accordance with the consumed boss. They will then serve as the new gatekeeper of the map before you can actually finish. They offer so many more challenges than the bosses players have already come to know and memorize.

All in all, War for the Atlas adds scads of new content for existing players to try their hand at on the leaderboards. Newcomers can frolic in the new features too as they rush to join the ranks of the vets. If you have been having doubts about trying out Path of Exile, now is the best time to give Wraeclast a shot. Available for both PC and Xbox One, the flexibility and strength of this title is readily apparent as it stands the test of time. Head into this Dark Souls-inspired thematic game and experience, arguably, the best isometric ARPG out right now.

Path of Exile: Incursion – A Time Travel Temple Excursion

It hasn’t been so long since The War for the Atlas was released, and now we’re already looking at a new expansion for Path of Exile, Incursion. Much like previous expansions, Wraeclast is once again going to get bigger, will have new mechanics that players will have to figure out to stay on top of their game, and expanded lore that will help us further understand the Vaal.

Short and Sweet Time

Half expansion and half challenger league, Path of Exile: Incursion gives players a peek of the past. Literally, in a sense that players who are up to the task will randomly find portals that would take them to temporal incursions (thus the name of the expansion) set when the Temple of Atzoatl, a massive Vaal temple and the new location – and therefore the centerpiece – of the expansion.

And once again, literally, in a sense that players only have a short window (pun intended) of time in the locations in question. Ten seconds, to be exact. But don’t panic, because you can make your stay last longer by killing the Vaal in these time-space anomalies. The more kills you make, the longer you’ll remain in the room. And don’t worry about missing the loot because you’re too busy killing, as you’ll be given an opportunity to grab the PoE Currency once the clock has hit zero.

Past Affects Future

There are over 11 of these temporal incursions, and it’s essential that you enter all of them, as doing so will enable Alva Valai to pinpoint the Temple of Atzoatl’s location in the present time. And with the new expansion being all about time travel, your actions in the “past” determines not only the temple rooms’ aesthetics and function, but also the level of difficulty of its monsters, the type of monsters you’re going deal with, and the reward they’re going to yield.

For example, there’s an architect in the past that grows poisonous plants. Killing him means you’ll no longer have to deal with anything that is related to lethal flora, making your run much easier. On the other hand, if you choose to spare his life, or even make him more powerful by killing his rival architects, then you’ll have to deal with a humongous noxious plant. Now, why would you want to deal with that?

Because if your build relies on poison, then you’ll want to slay this difficult boss, as it will yield a one-of-a-kind item that will be vital to you.

Aside from the looks and kind of enemies you’ll have to slay, what you do in the temporal inclusions will create doorways and passages. Make the right ones, and you’ll have the chance to enter the boss’s room.

A Shift in Skills

Last but not least, skills are going to have a revamp, especially Vaal Skills, the active skill that was corrupted by Vaal Orbs and have altered effects for better or worse. The latter, despite many of them being unique and useful, have been largely ignored because they need to be charged first before they can be used. To make them more palatable to the players, Grinding Gear Games has decided to lessen the needed charges to use the skill. Also, when Vaal skill gems don’t have enough charges, players will be able to use the non-Vaal version of the skill it provides.

As for non-Vaal skills, Incinerate, Rain of Arrows, Infernal Blow, Cold Snap, Charged Dash, Double Strike, Lacerate, Ground Slam, and Power Siphon will be reworked. And finally, there will be five new trap skills and six new Vaal skills. Talk about a wider skill library.

With Incursion, Path of Exile’s future is going to be a blast from and because of the past. So, don’t leave Wraeclast now, and come back if you already have, because this time you’re going to have a good time.