Dawn of the Hunt is set to release on April 4, 2025. Check out the release date, whether the Huntress or Druid will be playable, all the new details for the update, as well as FAQs in this guide.

All Dawn of the Hunt Guides

New Class and Ascendancies

New Class and Ascendancies
Huntress New Class	Ritualist (Huntress)	Amazon (Huntress)
Smith of Kitava (Warrior)	Tactician (Mercenary)	Lich (Witch)

New Weapon and Skills

All New Spears and Skills
List of Spears	All Spear Skills

New Items, Support Gems, Uniques

All New Gems and Uniques
Items	Support Gems	Uniques

New Features and Endgame Content

All New Features and Content
Corrupted Nexus		Rogue Exiles		Twilight Reliquary Key
Azmerian Wisps			Fracturing Orb

Dawn of the Hunt Release Date

Playable on April 4, 2025

Patch 0.2.0 Dawn of the Hunt Release Timer
The update is now out and playable!

Path of Exile's 0.2.0 Patch, or the Dawn of the Hunt update, was released on April 4 at 12 p.m. PDT (Pacific Daylight Time). The update is now playable for both PC and console versions of the game.

Server Status

Content Reveal on March 27, 2025

The content reveal for the update took place on March 27, where the developers, Grinding Gear Games (GGG), revealed most of the details about the upcoming 0.2.0 patch. The event also include a Q&A session to answer community questions regarding the upcoming update.

Watch the Stream For 2 Hours to Get an Twitch Drops Enabled

Players who watch any stream in the Path of Exile 2 Directory with drops enabled for 2 hours will be rewarded with the Executioner's Guillotine Unique Finisher Effect.

Dawn of the Hunt Twitch Drops

0.2.0 Patch Notes Revealed on April 2

The patch notes for update 0.2.0 released the following week after the live stream. Details about the upcoming content and balance changes were tackled in the latest patch notes.

0.2.0 Patch Notes and Summary

Everything New in Dawn of the Hunt

Dawn of the Hunt Content Highlights

New Huntress Class New Spear Weapon Type Mercenary, Warrior, and Lich Ascendancies 100+ New Support Gems 100+ New Unique Items Weapon Lock Feature Atlas Skill Tree Improvements Tower Improvements Azmerian Wisps New Intro to Endgame Fracturing Orbs New Maps for Endgame Rogue Exiles New Unique Strongboxes Respawns Now Available in Mapping Recombination Mechanic Improved Visuals and Clarity Twilight Reliquary Keys Content Availability in Leagues New Supporter Packs

New Huntress Class

The Huntress class makes her debut in the Dawn of the Hunt update as mentioned earlier. She specializes in a hybrid play style by engaging enemies in melee and long-range combat.

Huntress Ascendancies

Ascendancy	Summary
Ritualist	・Sacrifices the life force of enemies and herself to gain buffs and plague. ・Uses plagues to damage multiple enemies. ・Can equip an extra Ring.
Amazon	・Favors combat with Spears. ・Can reveal the weaknesses of Rare and Unique enemies to deal more damage against them. ・Can infuse her weapon with Cold, Fire, and Lightning by consuming charges.

Huntress Ascendancies and Class Guide

Taming Beasts as Companions

“They come with all the powers they had while they were Rare, so you're going to probably keep an eye out for what kind of beasts you're going to have.”

Jonathan Rogers, during Dev Q&A

The Huntress has the ability to tame beasts but can only have one companion at a time. Tamed beasts retain their modifiers, making it crucial to watch for potential companions with exceptionally powerful modifiers to unlock more build possibilities.

Spectres are different from Beasts as they do not retain modifiers, they only accompany you as their base form.

New Spear Weapon Type

The Spear is the primary weapon of the Huntress, and is able to dish out damage from melee and long-range, making for a unique play style.

New Weapon Types to be Added Alongside New Classes

“We're going to be adding new weapon types each time we add a new class.”

Jonathan Rogers, during Dev Q&A

New weapon types will only be added to the game when new classes are introduced. This ensures that weapon additions align with class updates.

List of Weapons

Blacksmith of Kitava, Tactician, and Lich Ascendancies

Ascendancy	Summary
Blacksmith of Kitava	・Forges weapons and armor for boosts in combat. ・Summons living weapons that fight alongside you.
Tactician	・Plays a supportive role by buffing allies. ・Provides covering fire by pinning enemies and unleashing AoE attacks.
Lich	・Specializes in Chaos damage and Curses.

There are three new Ascendancies for the Warrior, Mercenary, and Witch. Each new Ascendancy allows players to experience these existing classes with fresh and unique play styles.

Ascendancy Respec Being Considered

“We kind of want to see whether or not it turns into a big deal or not. We prefer not to allow it because I think the Ascendancy class is like a core part of the identity of the character.”

Jonathan Rogers, during Dev Q&A

The ability to respec Ascendancy remains a possibility, as the developers have not entirely dismissed the idea. They are still evaluating whether to implement it, based on how significant it becomes.

List of Classes and Ascendancies

100+ New Support Gems

Support Gem	Effect
Derange	Supports Skills which you can use yourself which can deal damage. Supported Skills gain an Energy Shield cost equal to your Intelligence, while also dealing more non-Ailment Damage over time based off of your Intelligence.
Volcanic Eruption	Supports Melee Strike Skills. Supported Skills trigger Volcanic Eruption on Hit against Ignited Enemies.
Embitter	Supports Skills which can Damage Enemies with Hits. Causes all sources of Damage Gained to instead be treated as Damage Gained as extra Cold for Supported Skills.
Concoct	Supports Skills which you use yourself which Damage enemies with Hits. Supported Skills consume a percentage of your maximum Life Flask charges, inflicting more Powerful Bleeding based on Life Flask charges consumed.
Commiserate	Supports Skills you use yourself which can cause Damaging Hits. Supported Skills inflict more powerful Ailments if you are afflicted with those ailments at the time of use, while also removing from you any Ailment that they inflict.
Battershout	Supports Warcry Skills. Supported Skills trigger Physical Damage explosion on Enemies within their range who have Fully Broken Armor but cannot themselves Break Armor.
Perfection	Supports skills which have a benefit for Perfectly Timing their use. On successfully executing Perfect Timing with Supported Skills, gain Perfection (6-second, 3-stack buff granting 5% more Damage per stack), which is a powerful damage buff. However, failing to execute any Perfect Timing (even with skills not supported by Perfection) will remove all Perfection on you.

The Support Gems listed above are just a few examples introduced in Patch 0.2.0.

There will be at least a hundred new Support Gems will be added to augment the existing Skills and will surely shake up the meta for best builds!

List of Support Gems

100+ New Unique Items

Unique Item	Modifiers
Prism Guardian Sectarian Crest Shield	% increased Armor and Energy Shield + to Dexterity +% to all Elemental Resistances +1 to Maximum Spirit per 50 Maximum Life
The Deepest Tower Spiritbone Crown	% increased Armor and Energy Shield + to Maximum Life +% to Chaos Resistance Enemies in your Presence count as being on Low Life
The Bringer of Rain Decorated Helm	% Increased Armour and Evasion + to Accuracy Rating Life Regeneration per second Can't use Chest armor You can wield Two-Handed Axes, Maces, and Swords in one Hand
The Hammer of Faith Giant Maul	% Increased Physical Damage % Reduced Attack Speed +% to all Elemental Resistances % increased Mana Regeneration Rate Gain a random shrine buff every 10 seconds

The Uniques listed above are just a few examples introduced in Patch 0.2.0. The new Unique items are designed to enhance both midgame and endgame viability.

List of Unique Equipment

Weapon Lock Feature

The new Weapon Lock feature is a quality-of-life enhancement that lets you lock your main hand, off-hand, or both, so that you can use the same item or items between both weapon sets.

This allows you to have the same equipment on both weapons sets while utilizing two different configuration of the Passive Skill Tree.

Weapon Sets Explained

Atlas Skill Tree Improvements

Multiple new nodes have been added for the following mechanics:

• Rogue Exiles
• Azmeri Wisps
• Essences
• Shrines
• Strongboxes

These nodes are found in the regular Atlas Passive Skill Tree, and points can be obtained by completing the new Corrupted Nexus maps.

Passive Skill Tree Guide and List of Passives

Tower Improvements

Towers have received significant improvements that make them more rewarding and give players even more agency when taking them on.

The number of Towers have been drastically reduced but are far more powerful in exchange. Towers can now spawn all endgame mechanics and even bosses. Players can now also use up to 3 Tablets in a Tower for convenience and efficiency.

Endgame Guide: What to Do After the Campaign?

Azmerian Wisps

Azmerian Wisps are a new mechanic found in the Campaign and Endgame that players must follow and then defeat. They infuse enemies upon contact, granting them various buffs, depending on the type of spirit.

Azmerian Wisps drop talismans that can be socketed on specific items with slots.

Wisp Type	Buffs Provided to Enemies
Bear	・Increased HP ・Increased Stun
Winter Owl	・Increased Cold Damage ・Gains Energy Shield ・Summons Wind Vortices on death
Wild Cat	・Increased Critical Strikes ・Gains increased Evasion ・Summons Feline Spirits
Cunning Fox	・Converts enemies to the next rarity tier (e.g. Normal to Magic, Magic to Rare, and Rare to Boss)

New Intro to the Endgame

Players will be eased into the Endgame by Doryani with the Corrupted Nexus mechanic, replacing the grind for maps. Map modifiers have also received a full pass to smoothen out the gameplay experience.

Atlas of Worlds Endgame Explained

No Plans for Campaign Skip

“It just isn't gonna happen. I would even go so far as to say that ARPGs that do allow that, ultimately will not have as much longevity as ones that don't.”

Jonathan Rogers, during Dev Q&A

Players must complete the Campaign to access the Endgame. The developers have no plans to introduce a feature that allows skipping it, as they believe it would be a problem for the game's longevity.

Full Campaign Walkthrough and List of All Acts

Fracturing Orbs

Fracturing Orbs return as one of the strongest crafting options, just like in the first game. Using a Fracturing Orb on an item causes one of its modifiers to be Fractured, making it unmodifiable by any means.

Fracturing Orbs can be obtained from maps that are cleansed by clearing Corrupted Nexus in corrupted areas.

Absence of Alterations and Reforging

“The problem with alterations is they realy made it too easy to be able to get a specific mod that you wanted. I don't think they have a place in POE2's crafting.”

Jonathan Rogers, during Dev Q&A

Reforging currencies such as the Orb of Alteration in POE1 won't be returning to the game as the developers think it makes crafting too easy.

This is also a solution to the problem in POE1 where some drops are not worth picking up anymore.

Crafting Guide

New Maps for Endgame

Seven new maps will be added to the Endgame. Each map features its own unique encounters and rewards.

Atlas of Worlds Endgame Explained

Corrupted Essences

Greater Essences found in the new Essence-based maps can be corrupted by using a Vaal Orb to create Corrupted Essences.

Each Corrupted Essence has its own unique mechanic. For example, the Essence of Insanity causes enemies to split into clones, and you must find the real one before you get blasted by a devastating explosion.

List of Essences

Rogue Exiles

Rogue Exiles are a new enemy type with the same Skills and equipment as players, making battles against them closely resemble PvP encounters. They drop their gear as a reward for defeating them.

Rogue Exiles Have Their Own Unique

“Each Rogue Exile can have different Uniques that they can spawn with. We wanted to make sure that in the pool of Uniques, there was some kind of character who felt like their personality fit what those Uniques can do.”

Jonathan Rogers, during Dev Q&A

Each Rogue Exile has a Unique item they are tied to. They also have AI that can fully take advantage of their Unique.

Rogue Exiles Are Smarter Than Regular Enemies

“I don't think we've ever made monsters that had AI as complicated as the Rogue Exiles have. They're like dodge rolling around and WASD moving. I think they really should feel like PvP combat.”

Jonathan Rogers, during Dev Q&A

Rogue Exiles are much more dangerous than common enemies as they can also perform dodge rolls, have smart pathfinding, and smart targeting.

New Unique Strongboxes

New Unique Strongboxes are available for players to find during gameplay, and will come with their own unique mechanic in order to be unlocked.

Respawns Now Available in Mapping

Players can now respawn when mapping, up to a total of 6 times. However, the respawn count goes down when more modifiers are added to the Waystone. This change should help players who have difficulty in sustaining their Waystones.

Another change related to character death is that dying to a Pinnacle Boss no longer incurs an Experience penalty, although Pinnacle Bosses also no longer grant Experience.

List of All Waystones

Deadlier Boss Encounters

“We want to make sure that people are fighting bosses more often. Bossing is going to be more of a thing in the endgame, we want bosses to feel more powerful.”

Jonathan Rogers, during Dev Q&A

With the introduction of respawning in maps, the developers are adding more boss encounters and making them more engaging by significantly increasing their difficulty. This gives them more knobs to turn to tune the game's balance.

Bosses are one of the most praised aspects of the game and it's clear why the developers prioritize them so highly to make the endgame more compelling.

List of Bosses

The Number of Portals Now Represent Respawn Attempts

“You will now be able to enter and exit your Maps as much as you like as long as you haven't died. The number of portals is now representative of the number of revives you have during the Map, so if you are able to survive you can come and go as you please.”
Dawn of the Hunt Map Portals Clarification

In addition to respawning during mapping in the Atlas, an overhaul on how the portals work have been made. Portals now represent the number of respawns you have in a map and will only be reduced when you die in the map. This means you can now freely enter and leave a map without consuming a portal until you've died enough to consume all of them.

Recombination Mechanic

Recombination will be added as the crafting mechanic to the Expedition Endgame activity. This mechanic allows players to merge two items into one, hopefully with the best modifiers from both.

Expedition Guide

Improved Visuals and Clarity

Several visual upgrades have been implemented to improve game clarity, making skill effects, environmental details, and endgame content easier to read.

Twilight Reliquary Keys

Twilight Reliquary Keys are now available, likely to be part of the global drop pool, and are extremely rare. These keys are used to open Twilight Order Chests which contain Foil versions of Unique Items.

Players who bought the higher tier Supporter Packs were the ones who chose the drop pool of the Twilight Order Chest.

List of Cosmetics

Content Availability in Leagues

All the new content are available for existing characters in the current league, which means players can directly experience the new content when the patch drops.

Starting Fresh with a New League

“One of the main reasons that you want to start over is because we've made so many balance changes.”

Jonathan Rogers, during Dev Q&A

A new league will be added, which includes an economy reset. This new league is also ideal for players who wish to experience the extensive balance changes.

League Guide and List of All Leagues

New Supporter Packs

Two new supporter packs will be available for purchase which are the Paladin Series and the Penance series. Both packs will grant the full game and can be purchased for $90.

Dawn of the Hunt FAQs

0.2.0 FAQs
How to start the Dawn of the Hunt League Is There Content Exclusive to the Dawn of the Hunt Leagues? Is There Predownload? What Other Information Will Be Released Before Launch? Will There Be New Cosmetics and Microtransactions? Do You Need to Create a New Character and Start From the Beginning?

How to Start the Dawn of the Hunt League

You can start playing in the Dawn of the Hunt League by selecting the Dawn of the Hunt banner when creating a character.

Is There Content Exclusive to the Dawn of the Hunt Leagues?

No, there won't be any exclusive content in the Dawn of the Hunt. Everything in Dawn of the Hunt will also be available in the base game.

Is There Predownload?

Yes, predownload will be available a day before the launch.

What Other Information Will Be Released Before Launch?

Full Patch Notes, information about Item Filters, what to expect at launch day, and new Twitch Drops will be announced later this week before the launch.

List of All Patch Notes

Will There Be New Cosmetics and Microtransactions?

Yes, there will be new cosmetics and microtransactions that will be launched during the release weekend of Dawn of the Hunt.

List of Cosmetics

Do You Need to Create a New Character and Start From the Beginning?

No, you don't need to create a new character and start the game from the beginning in order to experience the Dawn of the Hunt League. You can still play your existing character and experience all the new content in the upcoming update.

Will the Druid Be in Patch 0.2.0?

Druid Will Not Release on Dawn of the Hunt

Aside from the Huntress, the Druid is another class that GGG has announced as nearing completion and will soon be ready to play. However, the class won't be added to the game in the upcoming patch 0.2.0.

It is possible that the developers may be saving this new class for another huge update in the future!

Path of Exile 2 Related Guides

Latest News and Game Info

All News Article and Game Info

Other News and FAQs

Other News and FAQs
Support Pack Prices and Differences	Is Cross-Platform and Progression Available?
Available Platforms and Consoles Guide	Is Path of Exile 2 Free to Play?
Is There PvP Content?	PC Requirements and Recommended Specs
Can You Play Path of Exile 2 Offline?	New Gameplay Features and Returning Mechanics
Preload Date and Guide: How to Pre-Download	Should You Create or Link an Account on Steam?
Early Access Release Time and Countdown	All New Ascendancies

List of Bugs and Errors

All Bugs and Errors
Town Portal Bug Fix	Guild Donation Bug Fix
How to Fix Failed to Join Instance	Missing Tinker's Tool Bug Fixes
Missing Titan's Treasure Bug Fixes	Account Does Not Have Access to Early Access Fix
Unknown Object Type Serialized by Server Fix	Keeps Crashing on Launch Fix

List of Patch Notes and Updates

All Patch Notes
0.2.0f Patch Notes	0.2.0e Patch Notes
0.2.0d Patch Notes	0.2.0c Patch Notes
0.2.0b Patch Notes	All 0.2.0 Hotfixes
0.2.0 Patch Notes	0.1.1g Patch Notes
0.1.1f Patch Notes	0.1.1e Patch Notes
0.1.1d Patch Notes	0.1.1c Patch Notes
0.1.1b Patch Notes	All 0.1.1 Hotfixes
0.1.1 Patch Notes	0.1.0f Patch Notes
0.1.0e Patch Notes	0.1.0d Patch Notes
0.1.0c Patch Notes	0.1.0b Patch Notes
All 0.1.0 Hotfixes	Supercharged Slam Hotfix

List of Twitch Drop Campaigns

All Twitch Drop Campaigns
GGG Twitch Drop for November 21 Livestream	Early Access Twitch Drops Details
March 27 Livestream Twitch Drops	Dawn of the Hunt Twitch Drops (April 4 Launch)