Version 3.12.0

Version History
← 3.11.2 September 10, 2020	3.12.0 September 18, 2020

Patch notes

These are the patch notes for version 3.12.0.

The Heist Challenge League

• Challenge leagues are a great opportunity for a fresh start in a new economy. All of your old characters and items are still present in the Standard and Hardcore leagues, but you're encouraged to join the new leagues, complete challenges, and demonstrate your mastery of Path of Exile!

• With 3.12.0, there are Standard, Hardcore and Solo Self-Found variations of the Heist challenge league available. They have the same core mechanics and items. You can create private league versions of these leagues, with mods that make the game harder.
• The new challenge leagues include a set of 40 new challenges. When you complete 12 challenges, you will receive three Heist Helmets. When you reach 24 challenges, you will receive the Heist Sir Cat. At 36 challenges completed, you'll receive the Heist Portal. These microtransactions are only obtainable in this league.
• From the 19th challenge onwards and for every third challenge after that, you will receive pieces of the Heist Totem Pole decoration to display in your hideout. The Totem Pole permanently showcases how many of the Heist challenges you completed during the league.

Major New Content and Features

• Added a new Intelligence Skill Gem - Blazing Salvo: Fires projectiles that impact around a targeted location. The impact areas can overlap, hitting a target multiple times. The further away you target, the wider the area across which these projectiles can land.
• Added a new Intelligence Skill Gem - Void Sphere: Creates a sphere at the targeted location which deals physical and chaos damage at regular intervals, while pulling enemies towards the centre. Enemies at the centre of the sphere have less movement speed.
• Added a new Intelligence Skill Gem - Crackling Lance: Deals lightning damage to enemies in an area in front of the caster. Repeated casts intensify the damage dealt and narrow the range of enemies it hits.
• Added a new Intelligence/Dexterity Skill Gem - Frost Shield: Creates a Frost Shield in an area which can consume Energy Shield over a short period, gaining stages which make it more powerful. This Shield absorbs a portion of incoming damage and increases your chance to deal critical strikes while you are within it.
• Added a new Strength/Dexterity Skill Gem - Splitting Steel: Consumes a Steel Shard to fire a single projectile that deals damage in an area when it splits on impact, or at the end of its flight.
• Added a new Intelligence Skill Gem - Sigil of Power: Creates an area which causes your skills to consume more mana but deal added lightning damage while you stand within it. Enemies within the area deal reduced damage. The Sigil grows more powerful based on mana spent while you are in it.
• Added a new Intelligence Skill Gem - Flame Wall: Creates a wall of fire which deals burning damage to enemies within its area and applies a secondary debuff that burns for a short duration after they leave. Projectiles you fire through the wall deal added fire damage and apply this secondary debuff to enemies they hit.
• Added a new Intelligence Skill Gem - Hex Blast: Deals chaos damage to a targeted enemy. If the enemy is hexed, it will remove the hex, dealing more damage based on the amount of doom on the removed hex, and dealing damage in an area around the enemy (also removing the hexes from enemies hit by the area and dealing more damage where applicable).
• Added a new Intelligence Support Gem - Impending Doom Support: Causes supported Hex skills to trigger Doom Blast when they are removed or expire. Doom Blast deals chaos damage in an area based on the amount of Doom the Hex had when it was removed or expired. Cannot support Triggered or Aura hexes.
• Added a new Intelligence/Dexterity Support Gem - Pinpoint Support: Supported projectile skills deal more damage and fire fewer projectiles per intensity. Repeatedly using the supported skill adds Intensity. Cannot support triggered, Vaal, instant, or channelling skills, skills which reserve mana, or skills used by traps, totems or mines.
• Added 28 new Unique items, including one designed by a supporter.
• Added 11 new Divination Cards, designed by our supporters.
• Added 90 new Replica Unique Items, which are twists on existing Unique items. These can only be obtained through Heists.
• Added more than 800 Alternate-Quality variants of existing and new Support and Skill Gems.
• Added a Vendor Recipe for a special Support Gem. Good luck!

Minor New Content and Features

• The following skills have received visual updates: Lightning Strike, Fire Storm, Ice Storm (from The Whispering Ice), Caustic Arrow, Smoke Mine, Discharge and all Curses,
• Permanent minions such as Golems, Zombies and Animated Guardians are now saved when you log out, and are automatically resummoned when you log in.
• Divination Cards that award an item with an Elderslayer's Influence now have special background effects.
• A few torches will now light your way to Lioneye's Watch.
• Improved the Atlas Influence visuals.
• Significantly improved performance when viewing and using crafting benches.
• Made a multitude of visual adjustments to the brightness (and bloom effect) of skills and effects throughout the game.
• Improved effects culling across many skills and effects for performance.
• Continued to incrementally improve the sound, art, effects and environments.

Character Balance

• Projectiles have been reworked to allow for more player-friendly behaviour. Previously, if a projectile could not perform a step in its behaviour sequence, it would skip that behaviour, attempt the next, and never attempt to perform the skipped behaviour again. Now, it will skip that behaviour, attempt the next, and if it reaches another enemy, attempt to perform the skipped behaviours again. For example, a projectile that can both Chain and Return will now hit a target and, if there are no enemies for it to Chain to, it will Return. If it then hits another group of enemies, it will attempt to Chain again (though it will not Return again after Chaining).
• The sequence of behaviours a projectile will attempt, in order, is now: Splitting, Piercing, Forking, Chaining then Returning.
• Many modifiers to the effects and durations of Chill and Shock (such as 'increased effect of Shock') now also affect Brittle and Sap. The descriptions of such modifiers have been updated to reflect this.
• Intensity now has a maximum of 3 stacks (from 4).
• Removed the concept 'Reduced Visibility to Enemies' and replaced it with 'Stealth'. Increasing your Stealth reduces the radius at which enemies will notice you. 100% increased Stealth cuts that radius in half, and 200% increased Stealth cuts that radius by two thirds. You can, therefore, no longer become entirely invisible to enemies.

Skill Reworks

Curse Skills

All curse skills have been reworked and are now divided into two categories: Hexes and Marks.

• Hexes apply a curse in an area and, when manually cast, apply an amount of Doom per second to cursed enemies up to a maximum. Doom increases the effect of the afflicted curse and stacks additively with modifiers to increased Curse effect.
• Marks apply to a single targeted enemy, and only one enemy can be marked by you at a given time. The current Mark skills are Poacher's Mark, Warlord's Mark, Assassin's Mark, and Sniper's Mark (previously named Projectile Weakness). Monster rarity no longer affects the efficacy of Marks. Monsters deep in the Azurite Mine (Delve) also no longer reduce the efficacy of Marks on them.
• Additions to the number of curses you can inflict on enemies apply cumulatively to both Hexes and Marks, but do not modify the number of enemies you can have Marked at any given time. Thus, you can have an enemy that is affected by both a Mark and a Hex, but you can't Mark an enemy with two Marks, nor can you Mark two different enemies.
• Items and enemies which previously reflected Curses will now only reflect Hexes.

Steel Skills

• Lancing Steel, Shattering Steel and Splitting Steel can now consume Steel Shards to cause bonus effects. Steel Shards are gained through the Call of Steel skill, which causes all nearby Impaled enemies to release their Impale spikes and deals damage around them. If there are no Impaled enemies nearby, Call of Steel will create Steel Shards over time. Every Steel skill grants Call of Steel as well. You can have up to 12 Steel Shards at a time.

Assassin's Mark

Enemies afflicted with Assassin's Mark will always grant a power charge and significant amount of life and mana when slain.

• No longer causes cursed enemies to take increased extra damage from critical strikes.
• Cursed enemies now have a 100% chance to grant a power charge when slain.
• Hits against cursed enemies now have +1.5% to critical strike chance at all gem levels.
• Hits against cursed enemies now have +30% to critical strike multiplier at gem level 1, up to +49% at gem level 20.
• Cursed enemies now grant 65 life when killed at gem level 1, up to 600 at gem level 20.
• Cursed enemies now grant 25 mana when killed at gem level 1, up to 80 at gem level 20.
• Now causes cursed enemies to have a 1% chance to grant a power charge when hit per 4% gem quality (from 1% chance to grant a power charge when slain per 2% gem quality).

Poacher's Mark

Enemies afflicted with Poacher's Mark will always grant a frenzy charge when slain, and are more susceptible to physical damage. They always grant a small amount of life and mana when hit.

• No longer causes cursed enemies to grant increased flask charges.
• No longer causes cursed enemies to have less evasion.
• Cursed enemies now have a 100% chance to grant a frenzy charge when slain.
• Cursed enemies now grant 15 life when hit by attacks at gem level 1, up to 50 at gem level 20.
• Cursed enemies now grant 8 mana when hit by attacks at gem level 1, up to 25 at gem level 20.
• Now adds 6 to 9 physical damage to hits against cursed enemies at gem level 1, up to 30 to 45 at gem level 20.
• Cursed enemies now have -20% to physical damage reduction at all gem levels.
• Now causes cursed enemies to have a 1% chance to grant a frenzy charge when hit per 4% gem quality (from 1% chance to grant a frenzy charge when slain per 2% gem quality).

Sniper's Mark - Previously named Projectile Weakness

Enemies afflicted by Sniper's Mark grant charges to Life and Mana flasks when hit, and cause projectiles that hit them to split towards other enemies.

• No longer causes projectiles to pierce or knock back cursed enemies.
• Cursed enemies now take 16% increased damage from projectile hits at gem level 1, up to 35% at gem level 20.
• Cursed enemies now grant a Life Flask charge and a Mana Flask charge when you hit them, no more than once every 0.5 seconds at all gem levels. Note that this only applies to hits from the source of the mark (and not, for example, your minions).
• Projectiles which hit cursed enemies now split towards 3 additional targets at gem level 1, up to 4 additional targets at gem level 20.
• Cursed enemies now take 1% increased damage from projectile hits per 4% gem quality (from 1% increased damage from projectile hits per 2% gem quality).

Warlord's Mark

Enemies afflicted by Warlord's Mark will always grant an Endurance Charge when slain, and grant rage when stunned. They also allow attacks to leech life and mana from them.

• No longer causes cursed enemies to have reduced Stun and Block Recovery.
• No longer causes cursed enemies to have a chance to be stunned.
• Hits against cursed enemies now have a 40% chance to double Stun Duration at gem level 1, up to 59% at gem level 20.
• Cursed enemies now grant 5 rage over 1 second when they are stunned.
• Cursed enemies now grant 2% Life and Mana Leech when hit by attacks.
• Now causes cursed enemies to have a 1% chance to grant an endurance charge when hit per 4% gem quality (from 1% chance to grant an endurance charge when slain per 2% gem quality).

Lancing Steel

Lancing Steel now fires a sequence of projectiles when you attack, and fires more projectiles based on the number of Steel Shards consumed by the attack. Enemies can be hit by multiple projectiles from the same attack, but subsequent hits after the first deal less damage.

• Now has a base attack speed multiplier of 80%.
• Now deals 63% of base damage at gem level 1, up to 85% at gem level 20.
• Now fire 3 additional projectiles.
• Now has a 20% chance to impale enemies on hit.
• Subsequent hits from the same attack now deal 60% less damage.
• Now consumes up to 4 Steel Shards, and fires 50% more projectiles per Steel Shard consumed.

Shattering Steel

Shattering Steel now fires a number of projectiles simultaneously, which shatter after colliding with an enemy or after travelling a short distance. The shattered projectiles deal damage in a cone in front of their impact location. Shattering Steel will consume up to two Steel Shards to deal more damage at close range. Each time you consume Steel Shards, you gain a Steel Charge (up to a maximum of 6), which grants 4% chance to block attack projectiles per Steel Charge.

• Now has a base attack speed multiplier of 85%.
• Now deals 100% of base damage at gem level 1, up to 127% at gem level 20.
• Now has 8 to 12 added attack physical damage at gem level 1, up to 113 to 169 added attack physical damage at gem level 20.
• Now has a 40% chance to impale enemies on hit.
• Now fires 2 additional projectiles.
• Projectiles now deal up to 100% more damage at close range, based on the distance they travel, per Steel Shard consumed.
• Now grants 1 Steel Charge when you consume Steel Shards, granting +4% chance to block attack projectiles per steel charge. These have a base duration of 5 seconds.
• Now consumes up to 2 Steel Shards.
• Now fires only one projectile if no Steel Shards are consumed.

Firestorm

Firestorm now calls down a large meteor that impacts the targeted location, followed by a series of smaller impacts at set intervals over the storm's duration. The base power of the spell has been significantly raised, so you are now limited to three Firestorms at any given time (any new storms created will replace the oldest).

• Now requires level 28 at gem level 1 (from 12). Please be aware that existing low level characters with Firestorm socketed may have that gear slot disabled until the Firestorm gem is removed.
• Now has a mana cost of 13 at gem level 1, up to 25 at gem level 20.
• Now has an added damage effectiveness of 50%.
• Now deals 22 to 33 fire damage at gem level 1, up to 207 to 311 fire damage at gem level 20.
• Now has a base duration of 1.4 seconds with one impact every 0.2 seconds.
• The first impact now has 100% more area of effect and deals 150% more damage.

Glacial Cascade

Glacial Cascade now rapidly creates a sequence of damaging areas, each of which knocks back enemies it hits. Modifiers to the skill's area of effect no longer affect the overall range of the skill. Instead, larger areas overlap with each other more. This can allow you to hit an enemy several times with a single cast much more reliably. The final part of the cascade now deals significantly more damage to enemies.

• Now has a mana cost of 10 at gem level 1, up to 20 at gem level 20.
• Now has a cast time of 0.6 seconds.
• Now deals 21 to 32 physical damage at gem level 1, up to 207 to 311 physical damage at gem level 20.
• Now converts 100% of physical damage to cold damage.
• The final spike now deals 200% more damage.
• Now knocks enemies back on hit.

Discharge

Discharge now has a cooldown, and a much higher added damage effectiveness and base area of effect, to encourage large, individual Discharge casts that consume many charges over the rapidfire Discharge usage often triggered by other sources. There is a Threshold jewel which removes this cooldown for players who seek a Discharge playstyle similar to the older version of the spell.

• Now has a larger base area of effect.
• Now has an added damage effectiveness of 450%.
• Now deals 56 to 203 base lightning damage per power charge removed at gem level 1, up to 394 to 1422 base lightning damage at gem level 20.
• Now deals 99 to 148 base fire damage per endurance charge removed at gem level 1, up to 692 to 1037 base fire damage at gem level 20.
• Now deals 81 to 121 base cold damage per frenzy charge removed at gem level 1, up to 566 to 849 base cold damage at gem level 20.
• Now has 20% increased area of effect per charge consumed.
• Now deals 30% less damage with Ailments.

Punishment

Punishment no longer requires that you be hit by the cursed enemy to benefit from its effects, and instead grants large benefits for high-damage killing blows against cursed enemies.

• No longer causes cursed enemies to grant more melee physical damage on melee hit.
• No longer causes cursed enemies to grant increased attack speed on melee hit.
• No longer causes enemies to have -20% to physical damage reduction.
• Now causes cursed enemies to take 50% increased damage while on Low Life at gem level 1, up to 88% increased damage at gem level 20.
• Now causes cursed enemies you hit to be Debilitated for 2 seconds.
• Now causes 10% of Overkill damage from killing blows against cursed enemies to be reflected to other enemies as physical damage.
• Now gains 1% increased effect of curse per 2% gem quality (previously caused cursed enemies to grant 1% increased attack speed on melee hit per 4% gem quality).

Vitality

Vitality now grants flat life regeneration based on the level of the gem, and reserves a flat amount of mana (similar to Clarity and Precision). It can be used to more rapidly enable builds which rely on life regeneration to function (such as Righteous Fire) at lower levels, and no longer disproportionately rewards high-life builds.

• No longer grants life regeneration based on your maximum life.
• Now requires level 10.
• Now reserves 28 mana at gem level 1, up to 233 mana at gem level 20.
• Now causes you and nearby allies to regenerate 15 life per second at gem level 1, up to 247 at gem level 20.
• Now requires 25% less Strength at all gem levels.

Skill Balance

• still open

New Skills

• still open

Vaal Skill Balance

• still open

Support Gem Balance

• still open

Passive Tree Balance

• still open

Item Balance

• still open

Cluster Jewel Balance

• still open

Unique Item Balance

• still open

User Interface Improvements

• still open

Bug Fixes

• still open

Ascendancy Balance

• still open

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