Path of Exile is getting a new league this upcoming October 31, and it comes with many surprises, including a set of new ascendancies! Read on to learn more about the new league, ascendancies, quality-of-life changes, skills, and more.
Path of Exile Keepers of the Flame Adds Bloodline Ascendancy Classes
Some Familiar Faces Here…
Keepers of the Flame will be adding a new form of Ascendancy Class called Bloodline Ascendancies. These can be unlocked on a character-by-character basis, where players will need to defeat specific endgame bosses to obtain their power. The new ascendancies will function as a secondary Ascendancy for your character, meaning players will have to decide whether to allocate points to their original Ascendancy or their Bloodline Class.
With this in mind, players can choose to spend their Ascendancy points equally or even go all in with the Bloodlines Ascendancy instead and forego their original Ascendancy. This adds a new layer of build customization in the endgame, where players can mix and match between 10 new Bloodline Ascendancies and their chosen class’s Ascendancy. There are also no restrictions on obtaining a Bloodline Ascendancy, meaning all of them are available to be used by all classes.
These Bloodlines are associated with bosses from past leagues, encouraging players to engage with past content. For example, the Chaos Bloodline can be obtained from defeating the Trialmaster, giving you additional ways to augment Vaal-related skills. On the other hand, a more extreme Ascendancy is the Nameless Bloodline from the King of the Mists, which can grant you an additional ring slot for the steep price of being unable to use a belt, amulet, or utility flasks.
Path of Exile Keepers of the Flame Honors One of Its Iconic Leagues
Into a New Breach
One of the reasons why Patch 3.27 is unique is that it's the first-ever league sequel to honor one of the franchise's more popular leagues released back in 2016, Breach. It was announced that it aims to expand on the league’s lore, monsters, encounters, and mechanics. That being said, the league is specifically described to be "more Breach," meaning that it will still revolve around killing hordes of enemies after opening breaches.
As for the lore aspect, players will encounter Ailith, the founder of the titular Keepers of the Flame. It’s explained that the secretive monastic order is tasked with defending Wraeclast from invading Breachlords. These invaders look to claim the land as their own, for the sake of their goal of conquest and to create monstrous constructs across the realm. You will need to protect Ailith as she uses the Flame to destroy the many structures that have already entered the realm.
There will also be certain Unstable Breaches that can open up as portals beyond dimensions, which allow many of the Breachlords' minions to enter the realm. Hunt down the Breachlords in the Breach Hives to permanently seal the Breach and stop the invasion.
The Fruits of Your Labor – Genesis Tree and Grafts
Aside from utilizing the Flame to take down the Breach structures, Ailith will also grant you access to enter the Monastery of the Keepers. Here, players can uncover the Genesis Tree,
which serves as the league’s newest crafting mechanic. As you progress through the league by helping Ailith, your support will be rewarded by being able to sprout more limbs to be able to create even more items to strengthen yourself, be it Currency, Uniques, Gear, or the newest addition, Grafts.
Grafts are augmentations that are attached to the flesh, making them an additional piece of "equipment" that players use. What makes them special is that these grafted limbs have embedded skills and upgrades that strengthen the player, which can be used to complement their builds by rounding out their weaknesses or upgrading their strengths.
There are a total of 16 different Grafts that grant you different skills that you can mix and match with your build. One example is the Squalling Tulgraft, which casts the skill Dance in the White. This skill creates a deadly cold tornado that homes in on enemies and fires ricocheting projectiles upon landing critical strikes with skills. In addition to having more access to tailored creations with the use of the Genesis Tree, you can also choose to create Foulborn currency to enhance your Grafts into even stronger versions of them.
Path of Exile Keepers of the Flame Adds More to the Endgame To-Do-List
More Skill and Support Gems Are Coming!
That’s not all, however, as Patch 3.27 will also add more skills and support gems. This is particularly noteworthy because it has been a significant amount of time since the game added new skills.
One of which was Kinetic Rain, a new attack usable by wands to cover the floor with unstable kinetic energy. So unstable that it collapses on any unfortunate soul who so much as touches its area. Another added attack is Conflagration, which can be used by those who wield a bow. It rains down bolts of flame that are primed to explode when the user steps into its area. These explosions can chain-react, igniting vast areas with devastating fire.
For support gems, Living Lightning Support summons minions of living lightning energy. These elemental minions can be used to shock packs of enemies and can greatly augment a character’s pack-clearing ability. Additionally, the Windburst Support unleashes a flurry of chaotic whirlwinds as you attack. These tornadoes ricochet and deal damage as they travel, but will deal even more damage as they explode upon expiration.
Life in Wraeclast Keeps Getting Better
Many quality-of-life improvements will also make their way into the game when the patch drops. Some include having Heist Rogues starting at maximum level, the ability to refund both the Passive Skill Tree and the Atlas Passive Tree with gold, being able to swap and use Augmentation Orbs when using Alteration Orbs, and quickly being able to unbundle decks of Tarot cards so that you can avoid carpal tunnel syndrome.
With the success of the added feature of Fully Asynchronous Trade in Path of Exile 2, the feature will also be included in the coming patch. A new NPC by the name of Faustus will be responsible for the players’ Merchant Tabs. This means he’ll be the character to go to for any trade concerns, like listing items for sale and even purchasing items from other players directly.
And Yet, It Keeps Getting Harder
Every new league comes with a league boss, but Patch 3.27 will also add 3 more Uber bosses into the mix, specifically the harder versions of The Incarnations. These bosses will feature new mechanics and will serve as some of the game’s hardest challenges yet. Of course, these new bosses will also feature new Uber uniques, which will be the sole reason for you to take them down.
Path of Exile Game Director Reveals Their Secret on How They Remain Successful
Keep Innovating, Keep Getting Better
During a Q&A session, game director Mark Roberts explains how the company manages to thrive while juggling two live-service games. He highlights that their recipe for success has been a passionate team that loves both games. Despite having to focus on the early access of the sequel, Roberts stated that the team remains ready to innovate and improve.
He even mentions that the comparison between their very first league to today, the difference is night and day. For context, Onslaught was the very first league, and the only thing that the league had was that monsters had faster attack, cast, and movement speed. Now, new leagues have new areas, monsters, bosses, crafting mechanics, character improvements, and more.
He emphasizes that the team does not rest on its laurels, saying, "We’re not sitting here taking it easy. We have a schedule we want to update, and we look at what we can do and what the players love." He also reiterates that consistency is key, along with having a good product to begin with.
"Obviously, you need a relatively good game and concept to start with, but if you strive to do that level of patching and constantly make the game better and better while innovating with a passionate team who actually care about the game, then I feel like in almost all cases, you’re going to grow a player base."
Roberts also notes that identifying plateaus and then looking for ways to bring people in and keep them interested in the game is key. "Don’t let it get stale, don’t let it flatline, just keep innovating and keep designing and keep getting better," Roberts exclaims.
Accept Your Mistakes and Learn From Them
Roberts also recounts experiencing morale lows when they deploy a league that doesn’t live up to their standards and coming back from setbacks by putting their head down and getting to work by improving it little by little.
"Often, what sucks is that when we really missed the mark on something, like Dawn of the Hunt, yeah, we kinda messed up some stuff," he explains. "That sucks, but you just have to truck on forward and just fix it and make it better and do better. Just turn it around and do what you can."
He also highlighted how they weather the storm by staying positive, saying, "We’ve been through a lot, and we’ve messed up a lot of things; just make it better. It’s fine, you can always do it, and it’s not that bad." "Honestly, this has been our mentality the whole time, and it has worked, always," he states.
Ultimately, it all boils down to staying positive in the face of adversity and accepting that you can make mistakes and improve on them. He ends the session stating, "Generally, just stay positive all the time, and make the best Path of Exile as possible, now that there’s two of them."
Path of Exile Keepers of the Flame arrives as a free update on October 31, 2025 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
