GGG have announced the next patch for Path of Exile, and its associated Challenge League. Begin your conquest in Incursion League.
This new league is all about traveling through time on a hunt for untold secrets and power. I mean, POE has already killed all of its gods and most of its population, so why not turn everyone into bloodthirsty Time Lords. And since this league is heading towards a core design mechanic of slaying huge mob packs, there’s plenty of blood to be shed. Fans of Breach League should enjoy this one a lot.
There’s a lot of major additions to this patch that center on expanding existing Vaal content and lore. This expansion focuses on a hunt for a trove of lost treasure that’s been forgotten throughout the ages. The main mechanic for hunting this treasure trove is using Incursions to carve a path to the Temple of Atzoatl. One problem though, the modern-day Temple is a complete ruin and you have to rebuild it before you can loot it. That rebuilding process involves completing Incursions.
The process works like a more decentralized Breach League by comparison, each time you activate one, you’re transported to a room within the Temple that you have a limited time to complete.
The Incursions number 11 in total and are essentially labyrinthine mazes of rooms that are being actively constructed by Vaal Architects. These Vaal Architects are the bosses of each Incursion, and to progress to the next stage you need to down that boss. Each of these Architects is a powerful enemy on their own, so be careful.
The Temple of Atzoatl acts as the final series of challenges after you’ve completed a set of Incursions. And the final values and modifiers of the Temple can be manipulated by killing specific Architects while leaving others alive. According to producer Chris Wilson, each full temple run should take 1 to 2 hours and multiple temples can be cleared before finishing Path of Exile’s main storyline.
The Temples have unique rooms with special tiers. Tier 3 rooms being the best and most challenging, but also have the chance for the best loot drops.
But it isn’t just a new League, there’s also tons of core skill changes and gameplay tweaks coming into POE as well. And to go along with the skill revamps, there’s some new skill gems with Vaal variants being added to the game too. And as any fan would expect, Incursion League adds a load of new powerful Unique items.
Check out the trailer for Incursion League below.
In the Incursion Challenge League, explorer Alva Valai is searching for the ancient Vaal treasure temple of Atzoatl. Travel back in time to discover the location of the temple and change its history to maximise your reward. Built at the height of the long-dead Vaal Empire, the Temple of Atzoatl holds stores of untold wealth and the population of a small city. But in the wake of a cataclysmic event, the temple and its secrets were swallowed by the jungle, forgotten by the world… until now. Each time you encounter Alva in the wilderness, she can open a time portal, allowing you to visit the Temple of Atzoatl during its construction. Your brief visit can be extended by laying waste to its inhabitants. These visits allow Alva to learn its location in the present day, and allow you to influence its contents and reap its rewards. After roughly a dozen Temporal Incursions, Alva will have narrowed down the present-day location of the Temple of Atzoatl. Together, you can explore the jungle, discover the temple and claim its treasures. Each type of room in the temple has its own unique risks and rewards. Your actions in the past have significant consequences. By killing the Vaal Architects who guide the temple’s construction, you can influence what rooms appear in the present-day version. During your Incursions, you may find keys that can be used to unlock doors in the past, allowing access to additional rooms in the future.
The newest League launches alongside patch 3.3 on June 1st. If you’d like a leg up on the competition, review some of the plans GGG have for skill revamps in POE 3.3, here and here. If you’re interested in picking up one of the Supporter packs, head over to the POE site.
