With a full launch of Path of Exile 2 on the horizon, you’d be forgiven for thinking that developers Grinding Gear Games have their hands full, and are avoiding any big content drops for the original Path of Exile, launched on Xbox way back in 2017.
Uh, that’s not exactly the case, with Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas bringing an immense amount of new features to the game, especially overhauling the endgame experience.
Swathes Upon Swathes of Content
Available today on Xbox, PlayStation and PC, Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas is a free expansion that throws players into the Threads of Consciousness, which have been threatening the integrity of reality itself.
Guided by Eagon, you must enter this mysterious zone to rescue Zana, daughter of the Atlas inventor. To do so, you’ll be fighting against three new difficult Guardian bosses, some extra Endgame Pinnacle Bosses, and taking on maps inspired by Zana herself.
There’s also a range of new abilities to discover, monsters to slay, and items to craft and upgrade.
Players will also want to check out the newly introduced Mercenaries of Trarthus challenge league, in which you can recruit and customise randomly-generated Mercenaries to fight alongside you.
With 40 new optional challenges to complete here, with them granting pieces of the exclusive Watcher’s Wrath Cosmetic Armour Set (which can be used in Path of Exile 2, currently in Game Preview early access), you should endeavour to explore this part of the expansion.
Key Features
- New Endgame Storyline, Zana is back! – The crowd favourite Zana is back! Journey through the Threads of Memory with Eagon to find Zana and create a link through the memory threads. Wander through the dreamlike spaces unveiled by Eagon and try to rescue Zana freeing her from the Atlas.
- Overcome three new Pinnacle Bosses – Fight three new powerful Guardian bosses to access three new Endgame Pinnacle Bosses, the true test of difficulty and new height of rewards from Path of Exile’s Endgame.
- Run Zana-Influenced Maps – Take Mapping to a whole new level with Memory Influenced Maps as Zana’s Memories take the form of new monsters and new special abilities you can use to alter the battlefield to get more and better rewards than ever seen before in Path of Exile.
- New Pinnacle Items & Crafting – Acquire powerful new uniques from otherworldly Pinnacle Bosses and acquire items with Memory Strands, a new type of crafting mechanic that makes your items more powerful and interacts with other crafting systems.
- Recruit and Customize Mercenaries – Mercenaries can be equipped, managed, and cycled as players progress. Trarthan noble houses yield rare rewards and new Infamous modifiers. Each Mercenary possesses different skills, sometimes using special Trarthan versions. If you’re lucky enough, they’ll offer up one of their Trarthan Skill Gems as the reward for a duel.
- Party up with Mercenaries – Mercenaries can be brought into your areas to fight alongside you. Customize them to best synergise with your build. Mercenaries increase the rewards from slain monsters, similar to how party members do, but they also increase the difficulty in the same way, so make sure to keep them geared up!
- League Rewards – Mercenaries of Trarthus comes with a fresh set of 40 optional challenges to complete. By doing so, you will earn the pieces of the exclusive Watcher’s Wrath Cosmetic Armour Set, which you’ll also be able to use in Path of Exile 2. This armour set is entirely cosmetic and doesn’t affect your character’s power in any way.
- Runegrafting and Kingsmarch Services – No town building will be required upon launch of Secrets of the Atlas. Upon reaching endgame, players can talk to Johan to travel to the Kalguuran settlement, where they can thoroughly enjoy and receive the benefits of Kingsmarch’s services to their full effect from the get-go. The new Runegrafting service offered in Kingsmarch allows you to imbue the power of a Rune into your Passive Skill Tree, replacing the effect of a Mastery node. New Scarabs and Atlas Passive Tree nodes have been added to support the Settlers mechanic.
- Betrayal Rework – The Syndicate system receives a significant overhaul, with improved Mastermind accessibility where fragments can be acquired through Safehouse Leaders. The Immortal Syndicate will no longer be reset and will stay as its current state, along with streamlined progression and better rewards, such as the Allflame Embers. The new expansion will also see the return of Veiled Chaos Orbs to the Betrayal drop pool. The Safehouse rewards have also been rebalanced, along with enhanced Betrayal Atlas Tree nodes and Scarabs.
- Quality of Life Updates – Additional improvements includes unveiling items anywhere, improved map device inventory, game pausing, and many more!.
Venture Forth, Warrior
Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas is available today to all Path of Exile players. As Path of Exile and its expansions are free, why not check it out on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4 and PC – the handy Xbox Store will sort you.
