Okay so yesterday I finally got around to diving back into Path of Exile 2, right? Heard whispers about some big character updates in the latest patch – the one that just dropped last week. Honestly, I was itching to see what changed, especially for my favourite classes.
Jumping Back In
Fired up the PC, all the usual whirring sounds, logged in. Straight to my stash to grab some test gear I’d saved. Felt that familiar buzz opening character selection. Patch notes mentioned changes to Deadeye, and survival stuff like Evasion and Shields – exactly the stuff I like messing with. Needed to see it with my own eyes, you know?
Testing that Evasion Nerf
First up, I loaded my old Evasion Ranger. Pre-patch, this girl was slick, dodging like crazy. Hopped into a low-level zone, nothing scary. Let some skellies hit me… Ouch. Felt way chunkier than before. That note about Evasion being “downtuned across the board”? Yeah, they weren’t kidding. My character sheet still showed decent numbers, but man, those hits landed way more often. Felt significantly squishier just doing normal stuff.
What About the Big Skills?
Remembered they killed off the “Acrobatics” keystone entirely. Gone. Poof! That messed up my planned pathing for a different build idea I had – felt kinda stupid just staring at the empty spot where it should be. Moved on to trying out “Shield Raise” and “Parrying” states. Found a tougher enemy and held my ground:
- Shield Up: That enemy smashed into my shield… Boom, my stun meter filled way faster than expected. Like, “whoa, almost got stunned in one hit” fast. That 30% more stun accumulation thing? Absolutely felt every bit of it.
- Parrying: Tried the timing for a parry. Got one off! But again, the stagger afterward… just felt more punishing than it used to, that extra ~12% stun build-up stacking on quick.
Not impossible, man, but definitely makes you respect those monster swings a whole lot more. Gotta be smarter about using those defensive moves now, you can’t just spam them.
RIP My Old Deadeye Build?
Alright, the main event. Logged onto my main Deadeye archer. The specific gut punch was seeing “Thrilling Chase” absolutely massacred. Before? Spend a Frenzy charge, bam, guaranteed double effect on the skill. Now? It’s a lousy 50% chance. Fifty! Ran through a map I knew well. Popped Frenzy charges, fired off those big attacks… Half the time? No extra zip. Felt clunky. Less powerful. Less reliable. That skill relied hard on that 100% trigger for burst damage. Now? Feels like flipping a coin every shot. My whole damage timing feels off. Looks like a total re-spec or maybe even shelving this build is on the cards. Big bummer.
Wrapping Up the Testing
Played around a bit more. Checked out the Summoner notes they mentioned – slightly better damage scaling for minions later on, sure, nothing world-shaking. Noticed the changes feel aimed squarely at slowing stuff down, making defense way more active and precarious. Evasion isn’t the free ticket it kinda was before, Shields demand even better positioning and timing, and one of my favourite Ascendancies just got kneecapped.
So, My Takeaway?
The changes landed, and they landed hard. Not just numbers tweaks, but fundamental shifts in how some key mechanics play. My old Deadeye build? Probably dead in the water without serious changes. Gotta rethink defenses heavily across the board – survivability got wrecked if you leaned on Evasion or Shields. Feels like the devs really want every hit to matter more. Gritty. Challenging. Punishing? Yeah, kinda. Time to dig into the passive tree again!
